Tuesday 27 September 2016

Social Media and Identity Theft

Social networking sites have become a great part of people's daily lives, as well as makes the world go round with just the touch of a button, however as I have written in this blog previously, everyone is vulnerable to some form of identity theft and the biggest vulnerabilities comes through the use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others.

So, I was glad to find this great article (How Social Media Networks Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud) written by Kent Lewis via the web. The author lists several best practices for minimising the risk of your personal details being stolen when using social media; here are a few items from his list:

·        Assuming you plan to be active in social media, ensure you minimise the use of personal information on your profiles that may be used for password verification or phishing attacks.
·       Avoid listing the following information publicly: date of birth, hometown, home address, year of high school or college graduation, primary e-mail address.
·       Only send invites people you know or have met, as opposed to friends of friends and strangers.

I encourage you to read the full article at this link; https://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-features/social-media-networks-facilitate-identity-theft-fraud

For more information on this topic or any other fraud related area, you are most welcome to get in touch with me via email; contact@emgfraudconsulting.co.uk, I will be happy to assist you