When you’re scrolling through social media and have some time to kill, you may find yourself taking one of those online quizzes or surveys. And while they seem innocent enough, experts caution that they can be more revealing than you think. That’s because the answers you give can expose personal information, potentially leaving you open to fraud.
Quizzes that ask personal questions like “What’s your favorite dog breed?” or “What’s your favorite kind of ice cream?” are the same kind of questions you’re asked for security questions to access private accounts, like your bank account. And scammers can collect this information you share online and use it to impersonate you online.
The Federal Trade Commission recently warned that “the more information you share, the more you risk it being misused. In a blog post about the potential dangers of online quizzes, the agency writes, “They use your quiz answers to try and reset your accounts, letting them steal your bank and other account information.”
- The FTC suggests a way to protect yourself is not being truthful when answering security questions like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” They advise treating these questions like passwords and using random answers, preferably long ones.
- And just in case you don’t see the harm in these quizzes and surveys, the FTC reports that more than 95-thousand people reported fraud taking place on social media platforms in 2021, resulting in a total of around $770-million in losses.
Source: CBS News