Social Media Scams
Introduction
Social media has become one of the most popular ways to stay connected with friends and family. With over 2 billion users worldwide, they are a powerful personal and professional growth tool. However, like everything else, people want to take advantage of you. In this article, we’ll talk about some common scams that use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as vehicles for their operations so you can avoid getting sucked into their schemes.
Keep your social media account under close watch to avoid being scammed.
Here are some ways you can keep your social media account under close watch to avoid being scammed:
- Check your privacy settings. Ensure your profile is private so only friends can see what you post and its information.
- Keep an eye on what’s happening on your Facebook and other social media accounts, especially if someone new has added them as a friend recently or if there has been an unusual amount of activity on one post or comment thread. Report it immediately if something seems off about a post or comment thread!
- Use a password manager like LastPass, Roboform, or 1Password instead of easily guessable passwords like “123456” or “password.” Using a password manager will help protect against hackers trying to access personal information stored in online databases such as those used by banks or credit card companies (which often contain usernames/passwords). It also helps ensure that when one account gets hacked, others won’t be affected because they were all using different logins/passwords!
Fake celebrity Facebook accounts
Be careful of fake celebrity Facebook accounts. These fake accounts have been created to look like a celebrity runs them, but they’re not. They may be used to scam people or spread malicious software. You can report the account to Facebook or Google; if you’re unsure whether or not it’s real, check the official social media accounts of your favorite celebrities and look for signs that this isn’t one of them (for example, if there’s only one post shared on an otherwise empty page).
Fake Contest Pages on Facebook
A contest is a promotion in which people can win prizes. Contest scams usually occur on Facebook, and they’re often disguised as legitimate contests or sweepstakes. Scammers create fake pages with names like “National Lottery,” “Official Prize Draw,” or “Free Cash Giveaway.” They trick you into thinking that you’ve won money or other prizes by posting photos of fake checks and cash prizes, which are worthless pieces of paper.
If you want to avoid being scammed by a fake contest page, don’t click on links in posts from these accounts!
Fake giveaways on Twitter
Fake giveaways on Twitter are another common scam. These fake giveaways promise a prize, but there’s no prize at all–it’s just a marketing ploy to get your personal information. The scammers will then sell your information to others who want it or use it themselves for other purposes.
If you see what looks like a giveaway on Twitter (or Facebook), be careful! Suppose you don’t enter the contest by following the instructions in the tweet/post and replying with personal details such as email address and phone number within 24 hours of receiving them. In that case, there’s no way for anyone else except those running the scammer account(s) to win anything (and they won’t).
Phishing scams
Phishing is a scam where someone tries to trick you into giving them your personal information. They often do this by sending you an email or text message, which may look like it’s from a company that you know and trust.
You should never give out your personal information to someone who contacts you in any way (email, phone call). You should always check the website address carefully before entering any personal information on any website.
Spoofed emails and websites
Spoofed emails and websites are scams that trick you with a fake email address. A spoofed email is pretending to be from someone or something it’s not, like your bank or credit card company. These emails often ask for personal information or trick you into giving up your login credentials by saying there’s something wrong with their system and they need access immediately to fix it.
Spoofed websites look like legitimate websites but aren’t associated with them at all–and can use these fake identities for malicious purposes, like stealing your personal information by making it seem like there’s an issue with the website itself (for example: “We’ve detected suspicious activity in your account” or “Your account has been locked due to violations of our terms of service”).
Conclusion
Social media scammers are very resourceful and will do everything they can to steal your information or money. Be careful of any suspicious activity on your social media accounts, and always check the legitimacy of any contest you enter.
