Facebook privacy tips: How to protect your credit rating and your identity from theft on Facebook
Protecting your credit rating from being white-anted because of online identity theft has become an increasing concern of Facebook users recently. Having someone steal and use your identity can have far reaching devastating effects on your credit rating and your privacy for years to come.
By following these eight Privacy tips when using Facebook and other social websites you can shield yourself from this harm.
In a nutshell my eight Facebook Privacy tips boil down to this: Never place anything online what you want to remain private now or at anytime in the future, because what you put online today can affect you tomorrow, or in 5 years time. Make sure that those effects are positive by keeping anything that will affect your credit rating out of Facebook.
"Keep a secret and you remain its master. Reveal a secret and you become its slave. [Arab Proverb]"
So how do you do that and open accounts such as Facebook online? Here are my tips for protecting your privacy on Facebook, and prevent your credit rating suffering because of identity theft.
Facebook privacy tip # 1. Never use your full name.
Most of your real friends don't know your full name, so why give it out to complete strangers? Yes, its OK to use your family name. Anybody can know that and it won't affect your privacy.
Facebook privacy tip # 2. Use your nickname and family name.
Never give your middle name. That is starting to identify you from thousands of other people with a first and last name like yours. If your real friends know you as your nickname, use that nickname as your first name online. Keep your middle name blank, or add a fake one.
Facebook privacy tip # 3. If you don't have a nick name or name that is shortened, e.g. Ron or Ronny for Ronald, or 'Andy' for Paul Anderson, then why not use a name that you would love other people to call you?
Many people don't like their given name and secretly wish they had been called a different name by their parents. For example if you were named Ronald at birth but hated the name, why not call yourself Ronaldino, or Ronaldo on Facebook? It makes you sound more interesting straight away.
Facebook privacy tip # 4. Never use a Passport photo as your Facebook image.
A natural photo of you with a big smile that is cropped from a larger photo with a landscape background is fine. [Passport photos dont allow you to smile, so this is unlikely to be used for fake IDs.]
Facebook privacy tip # 5. Don't use your real home address.
Your real friends already know your address, and if you move you can tell them verbally. Your Facebook "friends" and Facbook don't need to know your real address. I suggest that you use your job address or your school or college address. After all, you are there most of the time you are awake [hopefully] and this protects your identity and your privacy. The only exception here is if that is also your place of business. You may want people to know that address to find you, but most people that work at home or work from home, don't meet their clients at home. [There are many insurance, security and other risks and Local Government legal requirements that make seeing customers at your home a bad idea.]
Facebook privacy tip # 6. Deliberately get your date of birth wrong.
Why would your friends need or want to know your actual date of birth? Women have a phobia about telling anyone their real age, except on Facebook it seems! You can simply move to a year lower or higher. For example, let's say your DOB is 9/11/1990. You could make it 2/2/1991 and this will protect your ID. That is, change the day, the month and the year. Your Real friends will know your actual birthday, and your facebook friends can celebrate your "second" birthday.
Facebook privacy tip #7. Its OK to use your actual mobile phone number.
Its personal and you can easily change it if you get unwanted calls as a consequence of having your phone number on line.
Never show or discuss your social security number, your tax file number, your credit card numbers, your pin numbers or your bank account numbers online. This is what as indentifying personal information, and should not be disclosed even to friends. The only exception is when transacting with a known trusted site with a security certificate, an HTTPS start of the internet address that shows that your information is encrypted.
Facebook privacy tip # 8 Never trust Facebook for keeping your confidential information private.
Facebook's policies may change and errors can occur. Either can leave you exposed. So keep that private information out of Facebook in the first place.
Facebook can be fun and private at the same time, without endangering your credit rating.
Feel free to share with everyone on Facebook your photos [that you would be happy for your family to see, because they can], your other friends and all the hangers on you'll gather, what you like and dislike and what makes you unique and as a person. Just remember, your friends nor your Facebook friends need to know any of your private information, so why share it with them?
The easiest way to protect your privacy on Facebook is not to share any credit rating related or private information that you would not want your worst enemy to know. When you avoid using your full name, your actual address and natural photos, then no one will be able to steal your id.
By never giving your bank account details, drivers license details or image, and social security or tax file numbers, and your privacy will be safe. Only give your credit card details to to trusted online sites that are encrypted and have a security certificate and show the HTTPS in the start of the address line.
So to protect your credit rating and your identity from being used by others, get on to Facebook and your other Social networking site accounts right now and edit your profile in the areas that affect your privacy. Don't rely on the sites privacy policy to protect you.
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