How Safe is Your Facebook Profile?

 

Facebook is a great way to connect and to share with the people that we love. But it is a medium which scammers and identity thieves use in order to benefit from unsuspecting Facebook users. As a result, it is easy to fall victim to some kind of scam in one way or another, particularly when you least expect it.

 

If for instance someone used your details to commit a crime and the crime is traced back to you, you will pay dearly for a crime that you did not really commit. That is why we should always ask ourselves if our Facebook profiles are safe or not and see what we need to do in order to make them safe at all times.

 

How to Tell if Your Facebook Profile is Safe

The information that you have provided on your Facebook profile is the number one determinant of whether your Facebook profile is safe or not. There is information that will be useless to online scammers, and there is information that they can use in order to harm you or another person. You just need to know the difference and refuse to provide information that can be used against you.

 

1. If you have your birthdates provided on your Facebook profile, your chances of being scammed are very high. Identity thieves can easily impersonate you if they have such details; therefore it is good to leave it out of your profile. If you must have your birthdates, at least leave the year out. Then the identity thieves will not be able to tell how old you are in order to steal your identity.

2. Your home address is something that will easily sell you off to online scammers and thieves. So many people are using Facebook and some of them do not use the site for good reasons. There are those that can use your home address in order to commit a crime or to stalk you. Therefore make it hard for them by leaving that personal detail out of your profile.

3. Your work related information is not to be provided on your Facebook profile if you really want to remain safe in life as well as on that platform. You do not know how many people are waiting for this kind of information so that they can harm you or your employer; therefore it is safe to leave it out. Your employer too may not be so happy with such information placed on a site like Facebook where there are so many people, and this could see you losing your job or privileges in the end.

4. Your actual phone number is not good information to have on your Facebook profile. Many people could hack into your profile and they will get to see your phone number, which is personal and can cause a lot of harm if you start receiving calls or messages from people with bad motives.

5. Another kind of information people post on their Facebook profile is their relationship status, which could be used by scammers to get into their good books. As soon as a scammer realizes that you are single and young, they can easily scam you by pretending to be interested in you. Leave that information out altogether and you will be safe.

 

All these and many more are what will determine if your Facebook profile is safe or not. The best thing to do is to make the necessary changes to your Facebook profile as soon as possible, and start being more cautious about the information you share on social networks to enhance your online safety.