Too galore radical stock conscionable astir everything online. That’s a one-way summons to Scamtown. Some info makes you an particularly premier target. Keep these adjacent to the vest.
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1. Your narration status
Widows and widowers are large targets. Crooks privation to get their grimy hands connected inheritance money. Take Rosalie Douglass, who tried her manus astatine online dating and listed "widow" arsenic her narration status. Two antithetic scammers connected with Rosalie and swindled her retired of a staggering $430,000.
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Pro tip: If you're a widow oregon widower, support it disconnected your dating and social media apps. You ne'er cognize who's watching.
2. Your abrogation plans
Tiffany posted astir her family’s upcoming Carnival cruise on Facebook by sharing shots of her tickets. She didn’t deliberation astir the information her booking notation fig was included. The aforesaid day, a scammer created a caller Carnival relationship utilizing Tiffany's confirmation number. The scammer canceled her booking and ruined her $15,000 trip.
Widows and widowers are large targets for scammers. (Reuters)
Pro tip: Announcing your vacation plans earlier oregon during your travel screams "Rob me!" Take tons of pics connected your vacation, but don't stock them until you're home.
3. Videos of you talking
Artificial quality tools marque it inexpensive and casual for anyone to make a deepfake video. Recently, connected TikTok, a pistillate named Sam said a shady marque stole her look and utilized it to beforehand a product. The marque did it each with a video from her societal media relationship and immoderate deepfake software.
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Pro tip: Limit the idiosyncratic accusation you stock online, particularly high-quality photos and videos of you talking. For astir folks, mounting your societal media accounts to "private" is the mode to go.
4. Expensive electronics you’re selling
A South Carolina man listed a limited-edition PlayStation connected a Facebook buy-sell-trade group. The "buyer" helium met up with pulled retired a weapon and made disconnected with the PlayStation, positive the man’s phone, wallet and watch. Scary.
Watch retired for scammers connected Facebook. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
Pro tip: If you’re selling thing pricey, conscionable successful a nationalist abstraction during the time and bring a friend. Your local constabulary department’s parking batch should scare disconnected anyone who intends to rob you.
5. Personal walking, hiking and biking routes
Fitness apps with GPS track way much than workouts. I told you astir the Secret Service agents who spilled the locations of President Biden and the archetypal lady, President-elect Trump and his woman and Vice President Harris. In lawsuit you missed it, the agents utilized Strava to way their question and seemingly didn’t recognize anyone could spot those routes.
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Pro tip: If you usage a fittingness app, alteration your settings to private. You tin disable GPS altogether, but that shuts disconnected the functionality you usage the app for successful the archetypal place.
6. Your kids' schoolhouse oregon activities
You’re arrogant of your kiddos and privation to stock their milestones online. Sorry, but posting photos successful beforehand of your kid’s schoolhouse oregon sharing their play shot docket is not smart. You genuinely ne'er cognize who is watching.
Fitness apps with GPS way much than workouts. (iStock)
Pro tip: Don’t station specifics astir your kids’ schools, time attraction centers, sports teams oregon adjacent the clubs they attend. When you bash share, support it vague and debar thing identifiable successful the background.
7. Your enactment details
The existent information present is mounting yourself up for a scam. Spear-phishing scams people 1 idiosyncratic with highly personalized information. Mid- and high-level employees are large targets since they whitethorn person entree to a company’s finances.
The much circumstantial details you post, the much substance you springiness a scammer. This includes wherever you work, your role, projects you’re moving connected oregon truly thing else.
Pro tip: Limit the details you stock astir your job. Keep posts astir vocation achievements vague oregon stock lone with friends and family.
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