There’s no denying that there are a lot of risks in using the Internet, specifically social networking sites.  These means of connecting with others can be used to spread malware, steal an identity, and did you know that it can even result in death?

Some people have used these social sites to lure people out of the comfort of their homes and out into the open where harm can be inflicted upon them.  Below we’ve compiled some of the most telling cases of social media experiences gone wrong.  Take these as an important life lesson that virtual environments continue to have very real world implications, and users should protect themselves, and remain cognizant of their online presence at all times.

MySpace Murder

In 2008, MySpace was used to plan the murder of Arrel Bell, a member of of the Sex Money Murder set of the street gang Bloods.  According to investigators, another SMM member was the mastermind behind the hit, as he suspected Bell of ratting him out to the authorities for another crime the two were involved in.  The authorities were able to gain access to the individual MySpace pages of the suspects, which included Karim Sampson, Keith Williams, Brandon Edwards and John Murphy, and cracked the codes used when talking about Bell’s murder.

All of the suspects plead guilty to the murder of Bell, with Edwards being the last to take the stand, only recently.  Edwards stated that though he was involved in the planning of Bell’s punishment, he did not participate in his murder.  Edwards pleaded guilty to conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, a fourth-degree offense, and will likely be sentenced to time served.

Twitter Murder

Jameg Blake and Kwame Dancy were friends, but little did they know how 140 characters would cost their friendship, and one of their lives.  According to reports, the two were childhood friends but had a falling out over a girl and that’s when the two started sending spiteful messages in Twitter.  Instead of extinguishing the flames, some of their friends egged the two by adding to the tweets.

Police stated that hours before Dancy was shot, he tweeted this message, “N——s is looking for u don’t think I won’t give up ya address for a price betta chill asap!” to Blake.  This apparently was the last straw for Blake, who ended Dancy’s tweets with a shotgun.  Local CCTV footage was recovered, which showed Blake leaving the block where he and Dancy lived holding a bag big enough for a shotgun.  Two days after Dancy’s death, the murder weapon was recovered in Central Park, NY with a spent shell.

Facebook murder

People may look nice enough, and appear to be sincere on Facebook, but photos won’t tell you the whole story.  On May 12, 2013, 15-year old Nichole Cable went missing after telling her parents that she was going out to meet someone she met on Facebook.  Cable never returned home that night.  A few days later her body was found.  The medical examiner stated that she died from asphyxiation.

So who was Cable meeting on that fateful night?  According to Tyler-Ann Harris, Cable’s best friend, she met with Kyle Dube that night.  Dube is a 20-year man Cable had met a coupe of months before the incident.  Luckily, Dube was reporting to jail for a 90-day sentence for a 2012 motorbike chase and was apprehended immediately.

According to Dube’s brother, he tricked Cable into leaving the house and what he wanted to do was disguise himself, kidnap Cable, leave her somewhere, then go back without the disguise and go home as the hero.  But something must have gone wrong along the way as he confessed to his brother that he put Cable in the back of his truck and when he saw her again she was already dead.

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photopin cc