You might think you’re just killing time by taking a quiz on social media but you’re doing so much more than that. You’re passing on a lot of data to people who don’t likely have good intentions for it.
Most people are savvy enough to throw up a red flag if someone starts asking for personal information like a Social Security number and such. But through these quizzes, you could be letting a lot of information slip through the cracks.
Social media data and quiz answers can be used to steal identity or enable a scammer to impersonate you to your friends and family.
This is how the scam works, according to Steve J. Bernas, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois.
A fun quiz pops up on your Facebook feed or another social media platform.
A few questions are answered to prove how well you know a friend. Or there might be short personality test offered to match a character from a favorite TV show.
These quizzes appear to be meaningless, but they intend to collect information.
Some of your answers can help scam artists learn the correct responses to common security questions for insurance, banking and credit card accounts.
If they get their hands on this information, it can lead to accounts being hacked and personal and financial information being stolen.
There seems to be no end to the lengths scam…
