Are scammers watching you on social media?
Many of us check our various social media accounts and email throughout the day. On Facebook, we scroll down to see what our friends are sharing. We peruse LinkedIn for interesting stories to read and share. Twitter and Instagram are checked to see what’s trending. We share all sorts of information, photos and videos which chronicle our lives.
Identity thieves need just a few items of personal information to steal our identities: full names, dates of birth, hometowns, graduation years, hobbies, interests. How much of this information is accessible on your social media?
Have you taken Facebook quizzes and surveys? They are fun to do, but they are really created for data mining personal information. Your responses can then be sold to third parties for marketing purposes. Free giveaways, airline tickets, cheap luxury products? You can be lured into providing information and credit card numbers.
Going on vacation? It’s probably not a good idea to publicize this on social media, especially if your home will be vacant while you’re gone. Same for your photos – wait until you return home before posting. Also, keep in mind that Facebook and Twitter often use geolocation to track where you are posting. Turn off your GPS if you aren’t using it.
You may have accepted a friend request from someone you thought you knew, but it turns out to be a scammer who hijacked a real friend’s Facebook profile. They may be waiting to use your information for fraudulent purposes. Or, the scammer may start a private message conversation where they will eventually inform you that you’ve won a lottery or a free government grant and give you contact information to obtain your winnings.
Another social media scam: a fake friend (the real friend’s profile was stolen) may contact you for help. The typical scenario has this ‘friend’ traveling and their passport and wallet have been stolen. They plead for you to wire them money to get home and will pay you back upon their return. Don’t fall for it!
Check your privacy settings. Make sure your social media posts are seen only by those you intend to see them. Even when your privacy settings are for friends only, those friends can cut and paste your posts onto their wall. Assume that everything you post online is public.
Have secure passwords that are different for each site. If using public Wi-Fi, don’t go to any of your financial sites or type in your password. Identity thieves may be lurking using key stroke software.
Social media certainly brings us all closer together. Take the time to be vigilant, though, about protecting your personal information.