The recent Facebook privacy hoax hit the headlines after the social media giant officially identified it as a scam. The truth is that these kinds of scams are nothing new, and this particular hoax has made the rounds before. It has been circulating the internet in one form or another for six years and still attracts unsuspecting users.
The recent variation appeared in news feeds as a message issuing an advance warning of Facebook’s intentions to implement a fee for user profiles to remain private. Users were prompted to copy, paste and post the status in order to remain exempt from the charges. The aim is to increase people’s vulnerability to future scams.
When you like a photo or post, it cannot spread a virus or allow access to your private information, but clicking on links and subscribing to pages can make you susceptible. These pages are used by scammers to spread malware, elicit user information and collect published data from profiles.
Earlier in 2015, fake Disney and United Airlines pages shared giveaway scams that attracted over 65,000 users worldwide. Privacy and protection are important issues when it c
omes to an online presence, whether it is a personal or professional page. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become essential for all businesses that wish to remain relevant, and by taking the right steps you can be sure of protecting your company on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
A recent survey revealed more than 67% of respondents to be concerned about privacy online, yet only 31% had checked and updated their social media privacy settings within the last three months. Naturally, the aim of your professional page is to attract as many followers as possible, but you can never be fully aware of their true identity. You cannot realistically vet every single person, but you can choose and establish the privacy settings that will work best for you. Additionally, you can put strong passwords in place to increase your website’s security.