Your social media presence is crucial to your success in business. No big or small business can survive without a substantial social media profile. Likewise, your websites, channels and other online accounts like bank accounts are the hot favourites of hackers. Losing an online asset can be a nightmare for all content creators and account owners. Therefore the security and protection of our accounts cannot be undermined.
Disclaimer
All the information provided here is from my own experience and observations. Please make sure you find information about how to protect your from scams from official resources too.
Disclaimer:All the information provided here is from my own experience and observations. Please make sure you find information about how to protect your from scams from official resources too.
It is important to be cognizant of cyber crimes and how they can affect anyone. You might be able to control your online account’s privacy but security still remains an issue. Even if you have a single Facebook or Instagram profile, with or without a large following, you can still be victims of hackers ,phishing emails or misleading text messages.
Although scammers and hackers devise new ways everyday to make you believe of an offer, lead to you a link, or get your information some way. Here are some common ways they have done it in the past.
Some Actual Examples of Cyber attacks
The scammers will send you a message with usually a link to click on. DONOT ever click on a link on your email or text message if you are not sure what it is or you are slightly doubtful about it. The hackers aim to lure you into filling out some kind of form with your personal info and then access your bank accounts. Here is one example:
Send you a message with the name of a known Platform
Example 1: They will approach you with the name of a known platform. For example: A financial institution or company you have your account with, asking you to reset your password because they have found some suspicious activity on your account.
Remember: If you look closely, you will find out that the email looks suspicious because they have a very long, weird looking email address and a company’s logo they have designed themselves. It might look similar but still it is not exactly the same. Now you can check what email address you have received emails from that company in the past, and you can see the actual email address is different from the one you just received email from.
Example 2:
You will receive a message on your phone that you have got a refund or gift from your phone company or a benefit from the government. So you need to click in order to access it. No phone company will ever contact you in this way. The government will also send you email and ask you to access your online account.
Important :It is very much safe not to click on the account link in the email but check its validity for example with chatgpt. Chatgpt will tell if the website looks legitimate or not.
Lottery and Prize Scam
Lottery and prize scammers are the most well known and blatant group of scammers who approach you through phone calls and messaging. Make sure that no one is generous enough to send you thousands of dollars and prizes without any reason. So make sure don’t get lured in this trap, no matter how credible they seem.
Social Media Account Safety
Since many social media platforms like instagram and Facebook can be a good source of earning. Many hackers try to find their way into them. They usually approach you with messages or email with links or send you messages repeatedly in your messenger. The links can be deadly, and if you ever click on an unknown link, you might lose your data. Why? Because, the link is a virus programmed to extract your personal data from your computer. Therefore, the best practice is to avoid clicking on the links and change your password (use a strong password) if you find anything suspicious.
Note:One things to notice about scammer accounts on social media is that they may have lots of people they follow but no followers or posts on their account.
Collaboration Scams
Content creators report that they often get emails from unknown resources telling them that they are so impressed by their content that they want to collaborate. Mostly, the email speaks for itself. It might have been poorly written with many grammatical or spelling errors. It must contain a long link, which is hard to understand.
Note: Do not click on the link. First of all research the company’s name if it is valid. Even if it is valid or a well known company, call or email them and verify if they actually contacted you with an offer. Many YouTubers have fallen victims to these scams.
Comment section protection
It is common for scammer to send links through comments on your website channel or social media. Avoid clicking on them and block all suspicious commentators. Use an anti spam program for your website like “Akismet” to block spammers.
RECAP of my Tips
Do not click on suspicious links in email and text messages.
- Verify if you get a message from a known company.
- Use stronger passwords for your account.
- Delete comments on your website or channel with links.Do not approve them.
- Use ant spam programs for your website.
- Inactive plugins and themes on your website can be a good target of hackers, so don’t keep them.
- If you are getting repeated messages from FaceBook or Instagram about offers, warnings etc, be extra alert and contact them yourself to verify these messages.
- Turn on security features for all your accounts, for example, two step verification.
I hope you found this article useful. Grow your business like you want but be wary of negative influences. Good luck!
