Most of us think we’re pretty savvy when it comes to using social media, but there are some mistakes we can inadvertently make whilst using it, much to our detriment. A good example is our innate enthusiasm to divulge, unwittingly, sensitive information about ourselves when answering surveys and quizzes or participating in games online.
Many quizzes play into our need to seem smart or try to prey on our vanity. For some weird reason, a lot of us want to know which cartoon character we most resemble or, well, all sorts of “Goofy” things…
We’re also more likely to give out personal info especially if there’s a prize involved, such as winning a free cruise or when some special product is being given away. Whatever it is the survey asks us, or the questionable details required from us in order to qualify, we need to smarten up and be more vigilant when revealing stuff about ourselves.
The makers of these quizzes and such-like love all the little details we feel compelled to give out, especially if they’re not a legitimate operation.
My First Pet’s Name Was “Fido”
See? You just gave away the answer to one of the possible “secret” questions you have set up to prompt your memory when you forget a password. It’s the answer to a clue: What was the name of your first pet? Or, what city were you born in? Your banking information could well be protected by one of these innocuous little details, and now you’ve gone and revealed it. Ooops!
While often cute and fun, some online quizzes and giveaways are set up to harvest your personal information – birthdate, phone number, where you live – all little bits of information you enter when registering to play or participate. This information is then sold to other companies and may be used to target you with unsolicited messaging – to your phone, your email addresses, or your social media (such as your Facebook page).
Easy to Do – Easy to Fall For
Often the data you supply can be purloined by less savoury characters, like scammers and con artists. They get a hold of your precious personal details and then launch an attack on your private affairs, including banking, credit cards, stealing your identity and so on – all because you responded to some benign-looking quiz; or because you went and volunteered an answer to a ‘What’s your favourite such and such?’ question. Or rose to a friend’s FB challenge and clicked on or shared a link (to who knows where or what) without first checking its legitimacy.
…then, in turn, your ‘friends’ get the message from you to click on it too, and so on and so on. Bingo, it’s one giant chain reaction in the making, and everyone becomes vulnerable to getting hacked. Remember that old 80’s Fabergé Organics shampoo commercial on TV where the woman says “You’ll tell two friends and they’ll tell two friends” and so on and so on? Same thing.
So, our advice to you (and a useful caveat to heed before you click or share information) – especially where freebies are concerned – is this:
If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.