5 Things Never to Post Online
In this installment of tips from fraud expert Frank Abagnale, Frank warns that it doesn’t take much information for a criminal to take advantage of us using information we make readily available online.
Here are five tips on what to avoid posting on social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter:
- Never post personal information, including your Social Security number (not even the last four digits), birthday, place of birth, home address, phone numbers, or personal account information. Any of these can be used to open bank or credit card accounts – or even loans – in your name.
- Avoid posting a full frontal picture of yourself on social media sites. A con artist can copy the image and use it to create a photo ID that can be used to steal your identity.
- Review and set privacy options for each of your social media accounts. Go to privacy settings and restrict your information so it can only be viewed by people you select. Check your privacy settings regularly.
- Don’t post things you may want to delete later. Nothing you post online is every truly gone if you delete it. So think twice about the pictures or comments you share before you share them.
- View your profile as others see it at least once a month. On Twitter, log on, click your picture, and select “View Profile.” On Facebook, simply click on your name to view your profile as others see it.