5 Ways to Help Protect Your Social Media Accounts from Identity Theft

Highlights:

• Oversharing and weak security on social media can make you vulnerable to identity theft, account hacking, and impersonation.
• To enhance your safety, use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, restrict your privacy settings, and be vigilant against phishing and unknown friend requests.
• Other security best practices include regularly monitoring your credit reports, searching for fake profiles, and waiting until you return home to post vacation photos.

Social media profiles are among the most common targets for scammers, hackers, and identity thieves. That means your vacation details or family photos could catch the eye of cybercriminals, potentially putting your identity at risk. 

What Are The Dangers Of Social Media?

Sharing too much personal information online can increase the risk of identity theft and fraud. Even small details — like your name, where you live or work, or your phone number — can be used by scammers to build fake profiles or try to hack into your financial accounts.

Your friend list is also a target. Scammers might use your name and photos to create fake accounts, tricking your contacts into sending money, usually in the form of gift cards or cryptocurrency. Also, hackers could gain access to your account to post embarrassing content, send out spam, or link to malicious websites in an attempt to steal your followers’ personal data.

How Can I Improve My Social Media Privacy And Safety?

• Focus on privacy. Be cautious about what you post online. Don’t reveal sensitive details like your date of birth and home address which scammers can use to bypass security questions. Also, make sure to check your privacy settings for each of your social media accounts. You may want to keep your accounts private so only people you know can see your posts and other personal information.
• Use strong passwords. Aim for passwords that are random and 12–16 characters long for all of your social media accounts. For extra security, activate multi-factor authentication (also known as two-step verification). This way you’ll receive a code to your mobile phone or email address anytime you or someone else tries to log into your account.
• Be careful whose friend requests you accept. Only accept friend requests from people you know, and avoid responding to messages or clicking on links sent by people you don’t know.
• Watch out for phishing. Scammers may send you fraudulent emails (known as phishing) in which they pose as staff from social media platforms. These individuals may claim that your account has been hacked or that you need to change your password. Phishing attempts typically ask you to click on a link and enter your login credentials, which scammers then use to access your accounts. To identify a phishing email, look for strange or unexpected details such as misspellings or grammatical errors and hover over hyperlinks to see if the URL is taking you to a site unrelated to the alleged sender of the email.
• Don’t share confidential information online. Never send payment or personal identification details such as credit card information, Social Insurance Numbers or photos of your birth certificate, passport or ID over social media, even if you’re privately messaging someone you know.

What Else Can I Do To Protect Myself From Fraudsters?

Here are some more best practices to consider to help boost your protection:

• Search for yourself online to see if any fake profiles come up. If you see a profile with your name and/or photo attached to it that you didn’t create, use the social media platform’s “Report” feature immediately, as someone is likely impersonating you.
• Post vacation photos after you return. Sharing your trip with your followers in real time may be exciting, but this also alerts burglars that you’re away from home. Waiting can help reduce the risk.
• Check your credit reports. It’s a good idea to monitor your credit reports regularly for information you don’t recognize, such as accounts opened in your name. 

Get Equifax Complete™ Protection

When you buy Equifax Complete™ Protection or Equifax Complete™ Protection for Family, you get social media monitoring to alert you to suspicious activity on your social media accounts, like account impersonation, phishing campaigns, identity theft, and account takeovers. You also get a password manager to help you generate and safely store your account passwords.