Does Facebook or Instagram really need your phone number? No. Scrub your Facebook account and other social media of unnecessary personal information. Same with the elementary school you attended. It's probably easy to figure out from your Facebook page what city you grew up in. Don't use secret questions that other people know the answers to, maybe because you have the information on Facebook.
Don't give in to the temptation.Ĭheck whether you need to change any information on any of your accounts that use secret questions for password recovery.
It's common for information-stealing viruses to be sent with a message such as, "Is this you in this video?" Your instinct is to click and look at what the sender is talking about. The same advice applies to messages on social media. Instead, contact the company or agency at a number you look up independently, using the back of your credit card, your account statement, etc. Even if you don’t enter personal information, just clicking on a bad link could infect your phone or computer with a virus that steals your information. If you get an email or text unexpectedly that you think could be legitimate, don't respond. will never send you unsolicited links asking for your login password or Social Security number or anything like that. Also important to remember: Your bank, credit card, the IRS, FedEx, etc. Heck, it wouldn’t be surprising for a con-artist who has your Facebook data to call or email or text you posing as Facebook. Just because someone tells you your date of birth or the city you live in doesn’t mean they’re legit. Watch out for suspicious emails, phone calls or text messages that try to trick you into disclosing personal information or changing your password, based on already having some information about you. You need to be extra cautious and paranoid for a while. If someone has your name, date of birth, phone number, email and other personal information from Facebook, they’re armed with enough ammunition to potentially do a lot of damage. Here are tips for coping with the Facebook data breach:Ĭonsider that you could see a broader attack on your identity. Consumers should also realize the stolen information could be even more dangerous when combined with information from past data breaches, such as the Equifax breach of 2017, which disclosed Social Security numbers, dates of birth and financial information for half of the U.S.
Names along with phone numbers, birthdates and email addresses are a dangerous combination to put in the hands of identity thieves.īesides being on guard for suspicious phone calls, emails or texts, consumers should check whether they’ve used information that can be found on their Facebook profiles as the answers to secret questions for financial accounts, such as their high school mascot or name of their pet. Or scam artists may pose as other types of businesses, including banks, credit card issuers or online retailers.įor consumers who willingly provide personal information to just about any company, especially a social media company, it’s not a matter of if, but when the data gets compromised. What we frequently see after data breaches: Bad guys may contact unsuspecting consumers and pose as Facebook, in this case, and try to con them into providing their password or credit or debit card numbers.
This serves as another important reminder that consumers must always be on the lookout for identity thieves who may call, text or email victims and try to trick them into providing more information.
The compromised data includes their full names, phone numbers, Facebook IDs, birthdates, bios, locations and, in some cases, email addresses, according to Business Insider. Reports emerged Saturday that a hacker published data from more than 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including 32 million records on users in the United States. Consumers who have accounts on Facebook need to be extra vigilant in the weeks and months ahead as identity thieves could use stolen information to try and commit fraud.