Tips from a Thief

Being connected can lead to this challenging situation of how to find a fine line of when and how much information should be given.

By Ross Watts, Marketing —

Can posting social media pictures and other important personal information be dangerous and put you at risk for having your identity stolen? Frank Abagnale, a mastermind of trickery and getting away with it, warns against the dangers of using Facebook and other social media sites to post professional head shot photos of yourself. These photos and other information—that at time can be professional and necessary—can lead to an easy target for identity theft; however, if caution is used, it could lead to higher security.

Criminal Access

Posting information on the internet, especially on social media sites, is easily accessible by criminals. Everything that goes on the internet can also come off, which leads to identity theft. The masterminds of cybercrime use personal information, pictures, etc. to create fake accounts and fake IDs, as well as steal other people’s reputation to perform an illicit action. These actions, though only happen to a select few people, can lead to be a huge problem in these people’s life.

Prevent the Threat

Prevention is the only way to really avoid this problem. One should be cognizant of what he or she puts on the Internet for people to view. According to Abagnale, we need to know where our private information is and not use solo head shots for pictures. These little steps of prevention may be overlooked as something that happens to us because of the need to always be connected to people. Being connected can lead to this challenging situation of how to find a fine line of when and how much information should be given. We are told to use caution, to not post much information, but often sites want us to give too much of this personal information that puts us at risk.

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Photo courtesy of Experian Day.