Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004. Today, social media is becoming increasingly popular, with 2.74 billion monthly active users on Facebook alone.
If you’re one of these active users, then you might wonder how to protect yourself from social media identity theft. While protecting yourself can be tough, there’s hope.
This article will cover different tips and actions that you can follow to have protection while you’re on social media. Read on to explore these tips and actions you can take in order to protect yourself online today.
1. Use Privacy Settings
Whether you’re looking to buy TikTok followers or not, you’ll want to use the privacy and security settings that are available to you. This can include a two-factor authentication for your account. This is in order to secure your account, and only share certain information with your friends and followers.
2. Limit Access
Limit who can see your posts and photos on social media. When you share too much information such as your birthday, high school, hometown, etc. then people are more likely to perform identity theft.
Make sure that when you post, only close friends and family can see your information. This can include other social media platforms as well such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
In order to change this on Facebook, you can either go to your post and click on the 3 dots to change the audience or head into settings. Under settings, click on privacy, and then who can see your future posts. You can even choose which friends are excluded from seeing your posts.
3. Use Strong Passwords
Avoid passwords that are easy to figure out or relate to the information you share. They need to be strong and unique. You’ll also want to change your password periodically as well.
4. Avoid Fake Friends
Before accepting a friend request from someone who already has an account, reach out to them to make sure it’s them. There are various online profiles where people steal the pictures and information of others.
5. Avoid Suspicious Links
Never click on any weird messages or posts that contain a link. It’s a way to download malware onto your computer.
6. Avoid Scams
Watch out for various scams to find your information, such as games and quizzes that require your bank details or phone number. Avoid requests from friends who are asking for money from new accounts.
Don’t click on articles or photos that are trying to get you off of the network. Don’t fall for lottery winnings or sweepstakes. Some work from home scams will ask for you to pay money upfront.
7. Research Before Sharing
Never click, share, or accept content without researching it first. If a friend asks for money all of a sudden, give them a call to ask about it. You can do the same for a friend request from someone who is already your friend.
Avoid clicking on links through social media. Instead, try to find it through the search engines, and see what comes up. Don’t give your information to any quiz apps either.
8. Store Credits
Social media sites want to make your shopping experience convenient by letting you store your credit card information. If a thief gains access to your profile, they can buy various items online with the use of your card.
Next time you input your card information, don’t save it. Each time you log in, enter your credit card information.
9. Don’t Friend Everyone
Avoid friending those you don’t know. Making someone a friend that you don’t know might be a way for them to access your information.
10. Sharing Your Location
Avoid letting others know when you’re not at home. They might feel tempted to break into your home and steal items.
11. Private Pinterest Boards
Consider keeping your Pinterest pins and boards private. This is a way to ensure that they don’t show up in your Pinterest searches, or on your home feed.
In order to make it secret while creating it, it’ll give you the option to change it to secret. To make current boards secret, click on your boards, and choose to edit a specific board.
Next, choose the keep this board secret option. After this, click save.
12. Hide Birthdays
Don’t share your full name or birthdate on Snapchat. Avoid placing any of this information into your profile name either. This is a way for people to have hints on your personal information.
With this information, they can use it to create fake social media profiles. They can then trick your family and friends.
How To Report Identity Theft on Facebook
First, head to the profile of the person who is pretending to be you. Click on the 3 dot button in the upper right corner of their profile, and click report.
Choose report this account. Next, choose that they’re pretending to be me or someone else.
Follow the instructions. After this, click submit for review.
Reporting Social Media Identity Theft
First, report it to the Federal Trade Commission. You can head to identitytheft.gov to report it. After this, report it to the social media platform that it happened to.
Protecting Yourself From Social Media Identity Theft
Now that you’ve explored how to protect yourself from social media identity theft, you should have a better idea of how to protect yourself. Would you like to read more social media content? For more on the best software and social media tools out there, check out our other articles today.