Identity Theft Tips

Safe Social Networking

In This Article
  • You may receive requests or content from a friend's account that has been hacked
  • Use privacy settings to limit the visibility of your personal information
  • Don't over-share your date of birth, current location, etc.

The convenience of connecting with friends, family and colleagues online makes it easy to forget that untrustworthy individuals might be lurking in our networks too. Use these five tips to help keep you safe:

  1. Set your privacy settings so that your information and your posts are only viewable by those you trust. 

  2. Only accept friend or connection requests from those you know and trust and those you are comfortable with sharing information. For example, posting that you and your family are on vacation on your social media page lets potential criminals know that no one is at your residence. This could make you a candidate for theft. (You can also un-friend or un-connect with those you do not trust.)

  3. Consider which pieces of your sensitive information, such as your birth date, personal email address, home address, current employer, high school, etc, you should and shouldn’t display. Identity thieves can piece together your information in order to take over your identity. 

  4. Verify emails and links that could lead to phishing or virus attacks. Only open files and emails and click links from those friends or connections you trust. If something seems or feels suspicious, don’t open it. Contact the sender directly to verify if they intended to send you the email or file. Don’t forget, the sender’s account may have been hacked. 

  5. For professional sites, such as LinkedIn, use a different email address than the one used for social media sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. This way, people you are linked to professionally can’t find you on social media sites via your email.

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