Social media has become a wonderful place to interact with friends and others who share your interests. Experts say social media remains a priority target for scammers searching for people to victimise this season. With the rise in popularity of the internet, and social media in particular, you’re likely to find scammers through emails, Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, and what have you.
To be on the safe side, it is advisable not to post anything on one of these social media sites that you wouldn’t be comfortable telling a complete stranger, because that’s what these scammers are. If they come upon your private information, they can use it for money scams, identity theft, and hacking attacks.
Among all of the social media networks Facebook has become a major part of life for many. Unfortunately, whenever anything becomes as popular as Facebook there are always going to be new scams and identity theft tactics developed to take advantage of it.
Identity theft and identity fraud are still prevalent on social media sites today. Most especially on Facebook which is the scheme known as friend fraud, which occurs when a stranger illegally gains access to your social media account and sends messages to the friends in your contact list.
By pretending to be you, this impostor can request money from your friends as a result of a fake emergency that leaves you without any money for transportation, for instance. Because of people’s generosity and warm feelings toward you, they might send the money to the person. Be careful about telling others your log-in information, check your social media frequently, and be sure that if this happens to one of your friends, you call them first to make sure it’s really them.
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There are also those that are called Twitter hijackers. If you’ve been part of a group that gossips, you know that having these private moments made public is incredibly embarrassing.
Apparently, scammers recognise this too. By tweeting at you that an embarrassing picture or rumour has been made about you, from someone you know, scammers are hoping you’ll click the link to find out what’s going on.
When you do it, scammers can hijack your account and send the same link to everyone in your contact list. This link often contains harmful software or malicious code that will harm the computer with viruses, that is the reason you should check with the person who supposedly sent the link. If it’s from someone you don’t even know, you should simply ignore it.
You should always protect your social networking activities because Facebook, twitter and what have you has millions of users and that means criminals are constantly looking for ways to steal people’s identity and personal information. It’s free and extremely effective in ensuring your Facebook and other social media experience is free of potential scams.
Stay calm and use your common sense, because most websites and emails are completely safe from danger. But there are cyber-criminals out there, because the holiday time of the year is fast approaching the percentage of scams and illegal activity on the internet may gradually begin to rise because there are more of us doing online shopping now. Be cautious and use your best judgement so that you can avoid falling victim during this special time of the year.
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