Don’t Answer cute Questions on Social Media

[Colliemom]

This was posted by the Digital Docs on Facebook. And it is not the first time I have seen info like this. I never answer those cute little quizzes or anything despite them being tempted. Avoiding this stuff, keeping long, complicated passwords and changing your FB one periodically goes a long way to avoid being hacked.

Digital Docs

Sharing this (very long) explanation of WHY you don’t participate in Facebook quizzes. Ever. The Docs have posted several times about this topic, because we see friends, family and customers participating in these every day.

How account hacking works on Facebook:

1. You see a fun little question pop up in your facebook feed that people answer in the comments. This isn't a question from one of your facebook friends, it's from a public account, maybe an account supposedly belonging to a radio station, but not one in your part of the country, where you definitely recognize the station. Maybe it's from a public account called something cute like "just for laughs" or "no biggie" or "memory lane." Maybe a facebook friend of yours has already answered the question.

It seems harmless and trivial: What food would you never eat? What was the first concert you went to? You answer the question in the comments.

2. Because of the way facebook's algorithm is set up, answering this question, or even just giving the post a like means Facebook will show you more content by this facebook poster and more content by other, similar posters. You see more and more little quiz questions by facebook accounts who are not your actual friends.

3. Also because of the way facebook's algorithm is set up, your actual facebook friends can see the post you responded to and your answer to the little question. If they respond to your comment, or like your comment, or answer the question themselves, they also begin to see more little quiz questions from this facebook poster and more similar facebook accounts with other little questions.

4. Some of these questions really are probably harmless, but the more you answer, the more you see, and sooner or later you slip up and answer one or more that help a data miner begin putting together pieces of information that help them steal your identity and get into your bank accounts.

"One of these has to go" with a list of four types of candy bars isn't helpful to anyone, but the more you get used to answering questions, the less carefully you scrutinize the questions.

One day you answer one that gives someone your birth year: "how old would you be if the digits in your age were reversed." A week later you've forgotten about that, but the information has been harvested and filed away and you answer another question that gives them your month of birth: "your birth month determines which celebrity you marry, are you happy?" with a bunch of pictures of famous people laid out in a calendar grid.

Some questions are straight up complete answers to common security questions: maiden names, grandparents' names, where you vacationed as a kid, what was your first car, what was your first pet's name, what was the name of your elementary school.

5. When the data miner pretending to be a harmless fun facebook account or radio station has enough pieces of the puzzle put together they can either get into your bank account, sell your information to someone else who wants to get into your bank account, or remotely lock your accounts or take over your whole computer or phone and force you to pay a ransom to get access back.

They can impersonate you and steal your tax refund. They can commit social security fraud, pretending to be you, and disappear with the check while you are left to prove it wasn't you.

6. The worst thing about these social media predators is that the more you comment on these information gathering quizzes, even if you just comment to tell a friend that they have potentially given away the answer to their own security question, the more they spread.

All your facebook friends will see more of these quizzes as a result of your comment, and be more likely to comment themselves, and sooner or later one of them will give away important information, even if you never do.

7. So DO NOT COMMENT. Not even to the ones that really don't share any important information. They post many innocuous questions for every one that actually gathers information, but even the seemingly benign ones help them figure out what style of questions generate the most responses, work the algorithm to get them on more people's facebook feeds, and lull you into a false sense of security that this is good clean fun.

Do not give it a thumbs up or an angry face. If you see a friend post in response to one, talk to them in person about how these work, or call them, or send them a private message, but don't reply back to their comment on the actual post. That just helps these things spread.

Be safe.

[BirdbyBird]

As you mention Sue these things have gone on for several years. I don't see many of them anymore because I generally take time to go through the process of X out the particular "author" or maker of the meme so that I won't have to see it again. That may mean that I don't see any that friends send me but I am okay with that. I usually do the same for many of the cutsy sayings and pictures. I lived a long time without getting those in my face everyday and feel I can make it through the days without them. Now personal pictures or shared stories of what is happening, those are the reasons that I appreciate Facebook. Repeated memes about how important coffee, or wine is to life....not so much..... However a picture of your dog......makes my day! Facebook goes a lot faster with some editing....

[Cudedog]

Thank you for the post, Sue. This is excellent information.

For myself, I don't have a Facebook account, haven't had one in some years. In my opinion, posting any kind of personal information on Facebook (this includes family photos, child photos, dog photos, etc.), funny stories, personal opinions - most anything like that - is a very bad idea.

Why? Everyone should give the Facebook "fine print" a read: Aside from all of the things you mention, Sue, anything (anything!) posted on Facebook is then (once posted), technically "owned" by Facebook.

Not for me.

Anne

[OregonLuvr]

I see these all the time but never respond no matter how cute they sound or fun. I have a Windows PC and use Chrome browser (despite Microsoft hating that fact). I use the browser under chrome of DuckDuckGo. I love it. I dont get all the ads that you get on Facebook. I used to get tons. Someone would post a car they bought and I would google it just to see what it had and BAM umpteen ads on my FB timeline. Now I dont get any unless someone posts a link on facebook. DuckDuckGo doesnt allow tracking...........perfect for me as I google and look up lots of stuff....often. I made DickDuckGo my default browser and it works exactly like google but without the tracking. I have it on my Android phone also. I dont know about you Mac users you will have to "google" it LOL

[gypsyrose1126]

Good info Sue!

[monik7]

So glad I’ve never used Facebook and do my best to be vigilant with everything else online. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry all the time, so I really appreciate any information posted here to help with potential problems of any kind online.
Sandi

[MandysMom]

I have warned people about this for years now. Many people just don't take it seriously.
Velda

[JudyJB]

Thanks for the info. I really haven't received any of these that I remember, and if I had, I would not have answered them.

I post almost no personal info on Facebook, nor do I have a lot of "friends." The other thing I do is put down a fake birthday because a birthday can help someone find personal information. (Right now, Facebook thinks I am 115 years old.) And you will note that I do not post my birthday on this site as well. The birthday cakes are cute, but I don't really want my birthday known.

I also do not post my middle name anywhere. About four years ago, I had a weird student in my online class. It was just little stuff, but she claimed her boyfriend had done something to her computer, and she needed an extra day because the paper that was due was lost. I gave her the extra time, but how she described it bothered me because it did not make sense. She later complained to the dept chair about the grade I had given her. Dept chair could not tell me background, but said I should Google her. I did and found out she had spent several periods in jail. Her most recent jail term was for 5 years because she was madly in love with the assistant chief of police in a nearby good-sized city. She was stalking him and broke into his house, except it turned out to be his real girlfriend's house, so she went to jail for stalking and for breaking and entering, plus a couple of other things. The dept chair participated in a teleconference with the student and me, but she was concerned enough to do it in the library in a glass-walled conference room with the armed security officer (not in a uniform) sitting at a table and pretending to read a book while watching the teleconference.

Anyway, the college had set up faculty pages for all of us that included a biography and our full name, including the middle name! And our middle initials were even included in our email addresses. As you probably know, it is a lot easier to find the address and phone number of someone if you know their middle name!! Even easier if you know their age. This 40-year-old woman was certifiably nuts and insisted I was in cahoots with her boyfriend and said I was lying about her assignments. Luckily, the semester was almost over, but she went into another instructor's class the next semester, and threatened the students in the group she had been assigned to in the first class session! Next week, the dept chair and security officer met her at the classroom door and removed her, telling her she had to take the class as a tutorial. Last I heard, she had managed to graduate after driving a few other instructors nuts, but has not been able to find a job or keep a job. Wonder why??

So when someone goes to look you up in one of the sites that find people, they will be able to narrow down the possible people by middle initials and age, which is why from now on, I never ever give out that info unless it is absolutely required, and maybe not even then. And the answers to questions about what was the name of your first pet or your elementary school are often used as identification on some websites.

This is the only really serious situation I had in 31 years of teaching college, but it was enough to scare me. I was REALLY glad to live in a motorhome, as well!!