Acquiring Personal Information

Most people today have at least one social media account, and chances are you have shared information about yourself and your activities on that platform. Whether it be Instagram, Facebook, or even LinkedIn, sharing information on these platforms means that anyone with access to your profile can see it. If your profile is public, then anyone (including scammers) can keep track of your profile and look for your name, where you live, where you work, who your friends are, and where you live. These, and many more details, can all be used against you in scams.

Remember: even if you don’t share these details in text, pictures of yourself can reveal them inadvertently. For example, you post a picture of yourself standing outside of your house next to your new car. A scammer monitoring your profile now knows what your house looks like and can approximate where you live. They also know what you look like, what kind of vehicle you drive, and even your license plate. All of that from a single photo!

The best way to prevent scammers from obtaining your information in this way is to limit who can see your profile on social media. Restrict access to only a close group of trusted people. It is also recommended to avoid sharing sensitive information online, so avoid posting pictures or messages that could reveal details about yourself that you do not want others to know.

Public records are another way to track down information about someone. Scammers make use of census, voting, property, and criminal records to find information about their target. These kinds of records are made public by the United States government, meaning scammers can obtain details about you without breaking any laws. Furthermore, there are many large data broker companies that search these public records and compile databases of personal information about people. For a small fee, it is possible to find details like the address, phone number, age, occupation, and family members of many people within the United States. Once again, this is a perfectly legal way of acquiring information and is very useful to the scammer.

While it may seem like there is nothing you can do to prevent this, there are in fact some measures you can take to restrict how accessible your public records are. You can send opt-out requests to most of the largest data brokers, demanding that they remove your records from their databases. Some online services may offer to do this for you, but it is recommended that you do this process yourself. While it takes more time to send individual requests to all these different companies, it is more trustworthy to do this yourself than to rely on yet another company to do it for you. A non-exhaustive list of major data brokers can be found here; this is a great place to start.

When registering for a service online, you may be asked to provide a great deal of personal information, ranging from your name and address to your banking details or social security number. While most companies go through a great deal of effort to protect this information, that does not stop hackers from attempting to break into their databases. In a successful attack, the malicious group or individual may be able to steal these records and distribute them online, often through illegal marketplaces on the dark web. This is how a scammer may be able to acquire your personal information, banking details, or even your passwords.

It is difficult to prevent scammers from obtaining your data once it has leaked. The best way to keep yourself safe from this method is to take immediate action in the event of a data breach. Many companies will immediately notify their customers of the breach and provide you with recommended actions. You can also freeze your credit to prevent scammers from using it in your name. Using multi-factor authentication can prevent scammers from accessing your account with just your password, forcing them to prove their identity through something like a fingerprint scan or by entering a one-time code from a mobile app. In the most severe cases, you can request a change in your bank account number, or contact the federal government for a new social security number.

Before a scammer targets specific individuals with phishing emails, they may begin by sending out less sophisticated messages that ask for sensitive information. They will then use those details to craft personalized messages and choose their victims in this way. Phishing attacks are some of the most common and serious cyberattacks out there, and this is why. They are an effective way for scammers to obtain information about their targets.

The most important thing to do to keep yourself safe from phishing attacks is to know what to look for! Knowing how to recognize a phishing attack is a powerful ability that will mitigate the threat of a successful phishing attack on you. There are many articles that will teach you how to spot a phish, how to report one, and the different tactics that scammers use. Reading these will better prepare you to identify these attacks and protect yourself from falling victim.