How social media users can fall victim to identity theft
- Many users have the same password for multiple online accounts, so if a nefarious person gets your account’s password, they’d likely have the password to all your online accounts like bank accounts, retirement accounts, and credit card accounts.
- Social media users are also at risk of cyber crime through various third-party apps that ask for permission to access certain information on your device. Anyone with ill intentions can easily get access to your sensitive personal data simply by installing a malware in the program.
- Quite often, thieves clone a social media account, creating a profile with the exact same name and photo as an existing one. They add friends of the original profile and when those friends confirm the fake account (which they think is real), the thief will start communicating. Sometimes it’s asking for money because of an emergency, sometimes it’s sending a link to a fraudulent site.
How to keep your identity safe on social media
- Never enter information like your identification number or your driving licence number through a social media chat, even if you think it’s a person you know.
- When setting up your account, change some of your important information like your date of birth by one day. This way, anyone who does access your account won’t have your real information.
- Choose the highest of privacy settings for your profile. Make sure your information and pictures are only visible to your closest, verified friends. Be very careful of who you add on social media, only adding people you’re certain are legitimate.
- Have a strong password. Use a good password manager. If you find that your personal data on a site has been hacked, change the password and any similar passwords immediately.
- Purchase best cyber fraud protection. A cyber fraud protection program reduces the risk to a great extent. Consider Cyberior Digital Identity Protection.