Think twice before taking Facebook quiz
- Kim Thompson: Better Business Bureau
- April 28, 2020
- 843
With most of the U.S. under orders to stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are turning to social media for a fun distraction. Taking a Facebook quiz may seem like a harmless way to pass the time while quarantined, but it also could give scammers your personal information.
You see a fun quiz on Facebook or another social-media platform. What’s the harm, you wonder? You answer a few questions to prove how well you know a friend, or you take a short personality test to match with a character from your favorite TV show.
These quizzes ask seemingly silly or meaningless questions, but scammers can use that information for nefarious purposes. For example some quizzes collect personal information by asking questions like: “What is your mother’s maiden name?” or “What is the name of the street you grew up on?”
These are common security questions for banking and credit card accounts. Sharing this information can lead to your accounts being hacked and your personal and financial information being stolen.
Not all social-media quizzes are data-collection scams, but BBB cautions users to be careful about what they share online. Social-media data and quiz answers can be used to steal your identity or enable a scammer to impersonate you to your friends and family.
Be skeptical. Before you take a quiz, figure out who created it. Is it a brand you trust? Just because something appears to be fun and innocent doesn’t mean there isn’t an inherent risk.
Adjust privacy settings. Review your social-media account’s privacy settings. Be strict about what information you share and be mindful of whom you are sharing it with.
Remove personal details from your profile. Don’t share information like your phone number or home address on social-media accounts.
Don’t give answers to common security questions. Be cautious if the questions in a quiz ask for things like your mother’s maiden name, street you grew up on or the name of your high school.
Monitor friend requests. Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know. Also be wary of a second friend request from someone you are already connected with; the second profile may be an imposter trying to access your data and your friends list.
See BBB’s article on sharing yearbook photos on social media at www.bit.ly/DontShareSenior.
For more consumer tips regarding COVID-19, see www.BBB.org/Coronavirus. For more business tips, go to www.BBB.org/Covid or www.BBB.org/SmallBusiness.
If you’ve spotted a scam (whether or not you’ve lost money), report it to www.BBB.org/ScamTracker. Your report can help others avoid falling victim to similar schemes.
Visit www.bbb.org/canton or call 330-454-9401 to look up a business, file a complaint, write a customer review, read tips, follow on social media and more.