“Sharenting” Social Media Scare

0

sharentingAs a parent we worry about EVERYTHING… so if you don’t have enough anxiety keeping you up at night, here’s one more thing to keep in mind.

Have you heard the term “Sharenting”? I hadn’t until recently. It was brought to my attention by a friend of mine and now I’m passing along the info so you too are aware.

“Sharenting” is something most of us are guilty of.
“Sharenting” is what parents do when they over post and over share pictures and videos of their kids on social media.

Well, now tech experts say we are putting our kids FUTURE at risk. Here’s the latest scam, crooks are taking info they find on social media and opening credit cards and bank accounts in kids name! They are using birth announcements, birthday posts, and mom’s maiden name to open these fraudulent accounts. Stats say- more THAN 140,000 CHILDREN ARE VICTIMS OF IDENTITY THEFT EVERY YEAR. Here’s the kicker, our kids won’t find out their identity has been stolen for several years , until they go to open a credit card or take out a loan.

So what can Moms do?

  • Obviously watch your privacy settings (this goes for anything involving our kids in my opinion, tighten that up.)
  • Tech experts say DO NOT POST IN REAL TIME (this is also a good tip if you’re on vacay because you don’t want anyone to know your house is vacant.)
  • Skip posting the location, baby’s full name, and actual birthday (I know that last one is hard, especially as my family is about to celebrate a birthday this month, but try to keep it cryptic)
  • The bottom line is BE AWARE- there are so many dangers of social media but this is the world we live in and it’s probably just gonna get more digitalized.