Is Oversharing Putting You at Risk
We all want to “keep up with Joneses” because what your neighbour or friend down the street has, you might want too.
And in the day and age where everyone wants to “one up” another be it in social status, holiday amazingness, or how your grandchild is better than another, it could also leave you exposed to hackers, frauds, and criminals.
We’ve all seen this post:
While this social media post seems innocuous and not oversharing at all, crafty thieves now know you’re on holiday for a week. You have now advertised that your home is empty to anyone who would want to rob you blind.
While one wouldn’t dare give a stranger access to their personal data, we often don’t hesitate to post the nitty gritty details of our lives on social media. And that includes when we are away, where we work, our birthday information, contact number and email addresses.
You’ve given the laziest hacker or criminal an all access pass into your private life just by oversharing on social media.
If you don’t have your Facebook profile details like the photo below set to private, everyone who’s your friend (or friends of friends) can see your details.
It only takes ONE bad seed to spoil all of your social media fun. One hack and your private details can be exposed and that includes your name, address, phone number, emails, and super sensitive information like credit cards, account passwords, and more.
Not only will a smart criminal scam you, they’ll set up a duplicate account of your profile and scam your friends too.
Here are a few tips for staying safe on social media
- Don't share your bank details or any other sensitive information over messenger. It can be easily accessed if someone hacks your account
- Review your privacy settings and decide who you want to see your posts. Read how to change your settings here.
- Don't accept requests from people you don't know and review your friends list to see if there are contacts you've only met once or twice, or haven't seen in many years.
- Be careful about the personal information you make available online. Remove your birthday (at least the year if not the whole date) and remove your place of birth and other details that could be used to steal your identity.
- Avoid tagging yourself when you are at home or at work, as it can show where you live and when you are out of the house.
- Don't announce when you're on holiday, as this alerts people your house is empty
Read more on Scams & Privacy
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Protect Yourself Against Claim Harvesting Scam
Protect Yourself Against Email Scams
Protect Yourself Against Phone Scams
How to Have Privacy on Facebook
