There are several kinds of posts you can expect to see pretty regularly on social media. There\u2019s the \u201chaving a great time, don\u2019t you wish you were here?\u201d vacation post; there\u2019s the picture-perfect meal post; there\u2019s the \u201cno, seriously, I just rolled out looking like this\u201d post; and \u2014 increasingly \u2014 the despairing \u201cthat wasn\u2019t me, my account was hacked or something!\u201d post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That last one is the result of social media identity theft: someone using your name and image on social media, or using it as part of an all-new synthetic identity<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that can complicate your life in embarrassing and sometimes costly ways, so it\u2019s well worth taking a closer look at how social media identity theft works and what the scammers want.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social media sites are a fertile ground for identity theft, because sharing the details of your personal life is what they\u2019re for<\/em>. While scammers sometimes manage to capture entire identities at once through phishing schemes<\/a> or major data breaches, more often they\u2019ll have just one or two crucial pieces and will need to find enough additional information to meaningfully impersonate you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where social media comes in. Someone who follows you, or is a friend of a friend, could pretty easily glean all the information they need to fill in those blanks: birthday wishes and a mention of your age give them your birthdate; discussions of genealogy can give them your mom\u2019s maiden name; and it\u2019s equally easy \u2014 if you\u2019re incautious \u2014 to pick out details like your location, the names of your kids and pets and a whole lot more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes that information is used for conventional identity theft, resulting in damaged credit and financial losses to you personally. Other times the information you\u2019ve given away is deployed on social media, in ways ranging from the (relatively) innocuous to the mercenary to the downright \u2014 and personally \u2014 malicious. It might be used to create a fake profile with your name and image, or in a worst-case scenario to actively take over your own real account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How an attacker uses your identity on social media can be pretty varied, depending who\u2019s using it and what their goals are.\u00a0 There are an almost infinite number of variations on the theme, but they break down into a handful of broad categories that account for most known cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re really<\/em> lucky, the end result of social media identity theft might be nothing more than a harmless prank instigated by a friend, a family member or a random stranger (the modern equivalent of an older day\u2019s prank phone calls). It could happen, but it\u2019s likely you\u2019ll see something more serious instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Catfishing<\/a> is simply pretending to be someone you\u2019re not. On the most innocuous level, a catfisher might steal your photo because they think your face is more attractive than their own (which is flattering, if a bit creepy). It grows from insecurity and a desire to be someone else for just a little while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the downside, catfishing can also be done for more malicious reasons. It might be the setup to a cruel prank, or the prelude to actual criminal activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of those malicious reasons. A scammer might use your image, or your name and identity, to woo someone online. They might even present photos of your family as photos of their own family. It all helps build a plausible identity, which ultimately \u2014 for most romance scams<\/a> \u2014 ends in a financial loss for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a tough one. Someone who knows and dislikes you personally, or encounters you online and takes exception to your views, could use your information to take control of your account or set up a fake account (a \u201csock puppet\u201d) under your name. At that point, they\u2019ll use it to post material that casts you in a negative light. In extreme cases, if the faux you posts defamatory, hateful or criminal content, it could even have legal repercussions for the real you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most common forms of fraud on Venmo<\/a> and other cash apps comes from scammers who pretend to be you and reach out to your friends and family to ask for (financial) help with a sudden emergency. Once the money is sent, it\u2019s typically gone forever. A variation on the theme urges your acquaintances to put their money into bogus investments, often a dodgy cryptocurrency or \u201cmoney-flipping\u201d scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Scammers can also use your social media identity to send phishing messages to your friends and family, and perhaps \u2014 if you use social media for work purposes \u2014 your colleagues (maybe your boss!), clients and prospects as well. Messages that appear to come from a trusted source are more likely to be clicked<\/a>, and so are malicious, identity-stealing links in those messages. With that advantage, criminals can then leverage their information in turn. It\u2019s like the evil twin of word-of-mouth advertising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are several ways to know when you\u2019ve been the victim of social media identity theft. One is when you start receiving angry messages from friends who\u2019ve been deceived, or are shocked at something the faux you have posted. If the scammer has taken active control of your actual personal account, you might find that you\u2019ve been locked out and that the password and the phone number used for recovery purposes have been changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s better, of course, to catch on before the trap is sprung. Proactively checking your own identity on a regular basis is a good way to do that. Set a particular day at least once a month: it could be calendar driven (the first Sunday) or inspired by an existing habit (the same day you check your statements, or pay your bills, or wash the car). Start by using Spokeo\u2019s people search tools<\/a> to search your own name, address, email and phone number. If you find more than one you, or you on a social-media platform you don\u2019t use, you\u2019ll know you may have a problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, search yourself on all of the social media platforms you actually use, to see if there\u2019s a duplicate. If so, notify the company immediately. Finally \u2014 because your photos are a part of your identity that\u2019s often stolen and misused rather than your name \u2014 pop a dozen or so of your recent photos into Google\u2019s reverse image search<\/a> tool. If they show up on a social media or dating site with someone else\u2019s name attached (or yours), that\u2019s a pretty definite red flag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do you protect yourself<\/a> from social media identity theft? Well, if you hear that there\u2019s been a data breach at a site you use, the first thing you should do is change your password immediately<\/em>. In fact, it\u2019s a good idea to change your password regularly just in case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your next step should be to review the privacy settings across all of your social media accounts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, the biggest thing you can do to protect yourself on social media (and elsewhere online) is both the simplest and the hardest: stop oversharing, especially when personally identifying information<\/a> is involved.\u00a0 Before you click \u201cSubmit\u201d on that next post, take a moment to ask yourself whether it really<\/em> needs to be shared beyond a few close friends (or at all).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are several kinds of posts you can expect to see pretty regularly on social media. There\u2019s the \u201chaving a great time, don\u2019t you wish you were here?\u201d vacation post;…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":25331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[810],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-identity"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Scammers Love Social Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How Social Media Identity Theft Is Used<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Pranks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Catfishing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Romance Scams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Personal, Individualized Malice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Scamming Your Friends and Family<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Phishing Your Family, Friends or Work Contacts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Know When Your Social Media Identity Has Been Stolen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Protecting Yourself on Social Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n