Web User - UK (2019-06-12)

46 12 - 25 June 2019

HOLIDAY
PLANS
“Only thre e more sleeps until
we fly to Australi a for two weeks!”
may seem like harmlessexcitement over
your forthcoming holiday but when
posted on social media, it’s tantamount
to saying “My house will be empty!
Help yourself to everythinginside!”.
Facebook even has a ‘travelling to’
option that lets you tell people you’re on
the plane – like an alert to burglars to
warm up the van. Simi larly, sharing
photos and videos of you and your
family sunning yourselves in exotic
locations and ‘checking into’ restaurants
and attractions are surefire giveaways
that you’ll be a long way from home for
some time. It’s much wiser to be
discreet about your holiday plans and
activities until you’re back, no matter
how fabulous they might be. If you must
share your getaway glee with friends,
then do it privat ely via a messaging
service such as WhatsApp, not online
where criminals can see.

EVENT
TICKETS
When your tickets arrive for a
hotly anticipated concert, festival or
sporting event, you may want to boast
by posting a photo on social media, so

your friends can share your delight and

express their envy. But try to resist the

temptation. Nearly all ti ckets these days

feat ure a barcode or QR code that’s

scanned on the door to permit your

entry to the venue. Someonecould

easily use the picture you share to

create a duplicate ti cket and potentially

invalidate your genuine one if they get

to the event before you. So if you must

shout about attending the gig of a

life time, don’t blow it by giving away

your ticket – or at leas t crop orblur the

photo before uploading.

FORMS OF

IDENTIFICATION

Posting a picture of your

driving licence to celebrate passing your

test, oryour new passport to bemoan

the awful photo, may get you lots of

It’s easy to post photos, videos and information on social

media without considering the consequences.Robert Ir vine

suggests nine things you should always avoid sharing

‘likes’ but it also hands sensitive datato

passing scammers, including your full

name, date and place of birth, and the

unique identification numberof the

document itself. Within hours, copies of

your licence or passport could be

circulating on the Dark Web. Either use

an image editor to obscure these details

before you upload the image, or don’t

share it at all.

CREDIT &

DEBIT CARDS

It’s common sense not to

publicly share a photo of your bank or

credit card on which the account

number andexpiration date are clearly

visi ble, but people still do it! There’s

even a now-defunct Twitter feed

(@NeedADebitCard) dedicated to

examples of chumps who were so keen

to tell – and show – the world that their

new card had arrived that they didn’t

consider the consequences. Even

without the CVV (card verification

value) numberon the back, fraudsters

can still use details from a photo of a

card to stealyour money and your

identity, so don’t take the risk.

WHAT YOU MUST

NEVER

SHARE ONLINE

r

on your friends can share your delight and