TAGGED.COM: AVOID like the PLAGUE!

If you get an invite to be a friend of someone at tagged (tagged.com)... DO NOT! It is a phishing site.

I was sent a greeting that looked like from a friend (indeed it was, and my friend was duped). It asked if he was a friend or not (did not ask to join). So I clicked on yes. That took me to a Registration panel or screen. Then something stopped me. I went to my browser, pulled up google and entered this query: what is tagged (as I noticed that the Company’s name was Tagged). So here is what I found:

Here is an entry on it at wikepedia.com (look it up if you wish):

"Tagged.com is a phishing website that masquerades as social networking website. It was co-founded by Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith and launched in October 2004 by Tagged Inc. and is privately owned. The site allows its users to send messages, leave comments, post bulletins, customize status, browse photos, watch videos, play games, give tags, chat and make friends. Early innovations include the use of slides and Youtube as a part of the site’s graphical interface. As of July 2008, the site claims to have 70,000,000 registered users.[1]"

Criticism

Tagged has been criticized[2][3] for its policy toward its users' email address books. These policies have been described as spamming at best, and as phishing attacks at worst. During the sign-up process the user has to provide the password of his or her email account. After that follow several pages of commercial offers and contracts, and the user is asked to provide home address, cell phone number, and mother's maiden name. The user who bails on the process halfway through is automatically signed up for telephone voicemail service and billed for services on their monthly local bill.[4]

The site also sends emails with HTML code that reads personal information from the recipient's computer when opened. The encoded pixel tags are tiny graphic files which collect data on the user by reading cookies on the user's computer for the purposes of creating a database of personal information which can be sold to third parties.[2]”