-Pratiti Nath
Internet, a boon of this century has made our lives easier and brought our dear ones closer. It has made
knowledge accessible to people from every social strata. So much so that, it
has become a necessity of this age. One such component of the internet is SocialMedia, where you can connect with a friend sitting miles apart and
share your thoughts & opinions, exchange files, photographs & videos. The
increasing trend of social media usage has led to a growing propensity for
social media fraud. Here are some aspects of it and how to prevent them.
1. Theft calls
from fictitious accounts
You use
social media website to connect, right? You’ve logged into Facebook and decide
to complain about your banking problems to the bank’s homepage. That can prove
to be detrimental, as a Pune resident Nehal Deodhar had found out when she
was robbed of Rs.50,000 from her account.
Problem
Be sure
about sharing your financial details (account number, pin code, branch name
etc.) on these platforms as it is very risky and you might just end up like Nehal. Make sure the account you are interacting with is an
authentic one.
Prevention
Best way to go
about this is to contact them through the bank’s original website or
personally get to the bank.
Research has showcased a
rise in these kind of cyber frauds from 75% in 2013-14 to 77% in 2014-2015.
2. Fake
accounts with malicious intentions
Problem
So you’re
quite active on Facebook. You browse through different offers, educational
institutes or beneficial incentives. Well, beware of their authenticity. Some,
if not many of these accounts turn out to be fake. Often fraudulent people make
such an account pretending to be a representative of an influential
organization.
However,
most of these are nothing but dopes to lure people. The organization might turn
out to be non-existent and their website a fraud. Their contact information would also be false.
Prevention
- Do not disclose too much of your personal details.
- Try to run a background check about their authenticity (validity of the institution, actual location, and knowledge of people about it). Generally on social media we tend to be in a herd of like-minded people.
- Look for mutual friends who know them. Contact them personally and see if their words match up.
3.Identity
theft and harassment
You are an
outgoing friendly person who regularly indulgences in sharing your whereabouts
and opinions on Facebook. You “check in”
the places you visit disclosing your locations and preferences and you use auto-fill up option while logging in, just to
be hassle free.
Problem
Fraudsters know your personal details and preferences through this auto fill option.
Your account can be easily hacked or worse someone can open a fake account in
your name. You’ll be unaware of this fake account of yours until they start
harassing people from your friend list. They use your personal information and
your old pictures for this purpose.
Prevention
To avoid such situations,
- Discard the auto-fill up option and log in manually.
- Change your password time-to-time and don’t use the same password everywhere.
- Refrain from making immediate check-ins, disclose information some hours later.
- Don’t make your phone number, address and email-ids public. Restrict it to “only me”.
- Restrict making personal photographs “public”, instead change them to “friends” settings.
- Also do not allow applications to post on your behalf.
4. Stealing
information via instant messaging platforms
Here,
platforms like whatsapp, hike, Wechat are your go-to-need apps. Beware, this
might land you in trouble.
Problem
Your photographs & videos can be stolen and used
later for malicious purposes. People can impersonate you, using your personal
information.
Prevention
Best way to prevent this is
to use your smartphone wisely.
- Restrict the use of public sharing wi-fi connections.
- Always remember to logout.
- Don’t share explicit videos and photographs. Restrict sending files in a group chat.
- Install identity theft detection apps and
- Refrain from using location tracker apps.
5.Via online shopping apps.
When shopping online via phone or desktop, trouble might be brewing near you.
Problem
Fraudulent people might
steal your personal details, banking details and contact information from these
platforms.
Prevention
- Be sure to log out after every transaction.
- Never enlist your debit/credit card to the payment gateway rather manually enter the card number during every transaction.
- Make sure your password is long and constitutes various characters. Change your password time-to-time.
- Don’t use your personal preferences (nick name, pet’s name, date of birth, mobile number, favorite color/book/cuisine etc.) as passwords; instead use random combination of characters.
These
are some of the frequently used methods of social media fraud. 77% of it is
done by furnishing fictitious information & identity theft, 18% by fraudulent
contact information and 4% by already established
fraudsters.
Keep them in mind and be more vigilant.
Stay Safe!
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