While social media is all about interaction, it’s best not to share too much because you can never be sure how it is going to be used.
Most of us know by now that a selfie or party pic can backfire on us, but what about other information that can lead to identity theft or other crimes that could clear out financial accounts or affect your safety?
To help protect your personal information from identity thieves or other fraudsters, don’t ever post:
- Usernames or passwords to anything.
- Pictures of debit or credit cards, paychecks or any financial account numbers.
- Your Social Security number.
- Your full name, including middle name.
- Your address or telephone number.
- Your actual birth date.
- Or any other personal details about you that could open you to fraud or scams.
Any of these items are pieces of information crooks could use to target financial accounts, or to apply for loans or other things that require personal details about you.
You also don’t want to expose yourself to burglars or other crooks who might follow your posts and then steal personal goods or private data when you’re away.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Don’t provide details about upcoming trips and how long you’ll be gone. You should wait until you get home to post vacation photos.
- Don’t tell people about your current location.
- Don’t post photos of expensive new purchases, such as jewelry, computers or other items that crooks could either steal or use to get personal information about you.
You don’t want to be a target, so it’s important that you don’t over-share vital information on social media that can be used to either steal data about you or things that you own.
