At ScoresMatter, our goal is to help individuals shape their “Digital You” into one that’s truly admirable. Many times, this involves protecting all aspects of the Digital You. Our services help users learn about and protect everything from their credit to their personal information that may be susceptible to criminals on the Dark Web. While those aspects of the Digital You are worth protecting, there is also another pivotal part of the Digital You worth watching over…

Your social media accounts can be a great way to tell friends, family and the rest of the world who you are. What many don’t consider, is that the information users pour into these accounts can also spell disaster if seen or accessed by the wrong person. Social media accounts can provide a hacker with everything they need to know to commit various types of fraud. For this reason, we have posted guides on how to watch for signs that someone has hacked your social media account(s). While it is helpful to be aware of whether your accounts have been hacked, finding out after the fact usually means that the damage has already been done.

If possible, you should try and stay one step ahead of criminals by learning how to prevent them from utilizing your social media to their advantage.

How Hackers Can Use Your Social Media Accounts

To See Where You Are

One of the best parts about Social Media is that you can tell your connections where you are with the simple tap of a button. Unfortunately, criminals can use this information for their benefit.

The most common example occurs when people are away on Holiday. You may feel compelled to post photos of yourself at a beautiful location without considering that it will let the world know that you are away from home. If a criminal intercepts this information, they can take advantage of the knowledge that you are away and break into your home.

There are a few ways around this. The safest option is to wait to post your vacation photos until after you return from your trip. Your connections will still get to see them and you can rest assured that criminals are less likely to come to your doorstep knowing that you are home.

Another option is to make sure all of your accounts are set on private AND do a deep dive of your connections to make sure they are all people you know and trust.

Piecing Your Information Together

When you think about the information you have on your social accounts, it may not initially look like anything a criminal could use to their advantage. After all, it’s not like you are pasting your passwords and usernames across your profile.

Now, think about all the information you need to enter when you forget a password for an important account. For instance, take the security questions you have to go through when setting up a new password. A question such as “What is your mother’s maiden name” could become a lot easier for a criminal to answer once they have access to that information after viewing your social connections. The same goes for any potentially identifiable information in your accounts.

It is also important to remember that your information is never truly secure with social media sites. No matter what social media platforms may promise with their “private” account options, none of them can guarantee that your information is secure. Just look at Facebook’s past few years as an example. Sometimes, the safest way to share information on social media is to not share it at all.

Phishing

At this point, you have probably heard of email Phishing but did you know that social media Phishing is an equally common practice? Social media offers Phishers billions of potential victims. Unlike email, the Phishing tactics on sites such as Facebook and Twitter make it easy to become a victim. It can be as simple as a link in a comment or a Tweet. When clicked on, the link leads users to a website that coerces them to enter their private information or download malware.

Never click on suspicious links. You should even consider a link from someone you trust as a potential scam. Many times criminals will also hack into your friend’s social media account and exploit your relationship with them, convincing you to click their malicious links.

Befriending You

As we mentioned above, hackers may try to take on the persona of trusted friends and family to convince you to fall for a scam. Sometimes fraudsters will even create new personas and use them to befriend you to swindle you out of money or other valuable items.

This type of behaviour isn’t only common on social media, but also popular dating platforms. This should go without saying, but try and refrain from giving anyone money who you have met online. Although their stories and relationships may feel real, many criminals will exploit emotions to get what they are after.

Fake Support Accounts

Outside of any accounts that may pretend to be your friend, some criminals create fake “support” accounts to gain user’s trust. The most common occurrence of this is on Twitter. Twitter has had many instances of criminals creating fake accounts associated with a popular bank or other entity.

These accounts will wait until someone makes a complaint on the actual business handle and then they swoop in and send a fraudulent link to the user normally surrounding it with convincing messaging.

There should be some red flags in this case. For one, the fake account probably won’t be verified by twitter, meaning they won’t a have the classic “check” mark by their name. In addition, the account will have a different name or spelling from the certified handle. Just to be safe, don’t open any links sent to you by your bank or otherwise on social media. Instead, opt to call your bank directly at their associated number.

The internet can be a scary place but if you are aware of how criminals will use it to their advantage then you can avoid their traps with ease. Make sure you stay subscribed to ScoresMatter to receive free guides on how to keep your information safe from criminals.

Of course, in today’s digital landscape, sometimes your data is out of your hands. Company breaches continue to occur at an alarming rate, spelling out danger for your personal information. You can’t keep breaches from happening but you can check to see if your information ends up on the Dark Web. You can sign up with ScoresMatter and start monitoring your information today.

Tap Into The Digital You at ScoresMatter