What is better not to publish on social networks so as not to become a victim of scammers
Miscellaneous / / July 31, 2021
Sometimes silence is gold, including on the Internet.
Phone number
When social networks first appeared, most people boldly shared contacts on their pages. The worst thing that could happen is that unfamiliar people would start calling you often. But it was easy to contact you, for example, a potential employer.
Now it is better not to publish the phone number in the public domain. Firstly, they are very successful in collecting contacts, then to call and offer loans, legal services and astrological forecast. Secondly, fraudsters can use the number. The ones from the "bank security", who in every possible way lure codes from SMS and card data.
All this is unpleasant, but calls can be resisted. However, there is still "third": a phone number is now used as a login in many places, two-factor authentication codes are sent to the mobile. Craftsmen can, having learned the contact, hack your accounts, and then how lucky. More precisely, no luck. Attackers will pay tied maps, blackmail with something you find in private messages, send spam and extort money on your behalf.
Date of Birth
Of course, it's nice when congratulations and warm words fall on you from all sides. But it is better not to keep the date of the holiday in the public domain.
Fraudsters can use the knowledge and, on behalf of friends or brand, send a surprise message to the social network or by mail. Unpleasant. It will seem to you that a gift certificate or at least something cute is waiting for you following the link. And there will be a phishing program that will take over your passwords.
It would seem, well, who will fall for this scam? We all know that you cannot click on any links. But in the midst of a holiday in a stream of messages, it's easy to lose your guard. This can happen to the smartest people. Therefore, it is better to be more attentive.
Photo of documents
Upload documents to the public it is forbidden, this is the golden rule of safety. But sometimes they end up on the Web by accident. For example, as an illustration to the posts "Hurray, I changed my surname!" I hate queues ", or" Look how I looked at 20! "
But even accidentally posting a photo can get expensive. Passport data is easy to use, for example, for obtaining a loan in your name or company registration - a screen for criminal deeds.
This also applies to the rest of the documents, be careful.
Jogging routes
We have known since childhood that we cannot tell strangers our address. But for some reason we easily lay out the routes of walks and jogging. Although very few people travel early in the morning (or late in the evening) to the other end of the city to work out. Most likely, the start and finish point will be near your home. That is, it will be easy to find you.
Vacation photos
In the past, burglars had to look to see if the mailbox was full, if the lights came on in the windows, to find out if a person was at home. Now we ourselves are making it easier for them. We write in social networks on what dates we will be unavailable, because we are leaving. We publish photos from hot beaches. We will tell you in the comments which flight we will return. It only remains to write that the spare key is under the rug, and that's it.
It seems that burglary is a crime from the past. Nevertheless, in 2020, 35 of them were registered in Russia.Brief description of the state of crime in the Russian Federation for January - December 2020 / Ministry of Internal Affairs thousand. And this is taking into account the fact that people spent the year mainly at home due to pandemics, that is, the conditions for the attackers were not the most suitable. And if you can minimize the risk of falling into such statistics, it is better to do it.
Family ties
There are many stories when people are calling, introduce themselves to a loved one who is in trouble, and ask for money. For example, it might be like this: “Mom, I hit a man! They want to jail me! Warrant Officer Shmatko will speak to you now. ” And the accomplice is already explaining how much must be paid to grease the offspring.
In a stressful situation, people do not always react sensibly. For some, this story is enough to transfer money. Imagine how convincing the legend can be if a fraudster calls not to a random number, but to a specially selected one. And at the same time, the deceiver will know the name of the child and other details of his life.
Better not to publicly indicate who your brother, matchmaker, colleague or parent is. It is clear that sometimes this can be found out in a roundabout way - by a common surname, for example. But at least don't make it easier scammers task.
Ticket photos
Everything is simple here: the ticket has a barcode, which is quite easy to counterfeit. And it is scanned at the entrance once. So, if the ticket is falsified, the one who came earlier, and not the one who paid for it, will be able to get into the hall or the stadium.
Details about children
Proud parents happily spread their child's letters, write posts about his life and hobbies. They can be understood. But alas, the consequences can be worse than fraud.
It is easy to find out where the child is studying by the diplomas. And additional details will give the criminal information with which he can gain the trust of the kid, impersonate a relative or family friend in front of the teacher.
When talking about child safety, it is common to discuss how to kid you need to maintain your accounts and is it worth having them. But adults, too, would be nice to slow down.
Read also🧐
- 7 digital hygiene rules you'll thank yourself for
- How to avoid problems if you need to use a copy of your passport on the Internet
- TEST: Phishing or not? Check if you are capable of identifying an internet scammer