The social media explosion over the last several years has created a cultural phenomenon. At best, social media is a strong tool for communicating and accessing information. At worst, social media represents one of the biggest threats to our privacy. So how do stay safe? Only “friend” people that you know from real life. Always remember that you can’t “unshared” something. And consider maxing out your privacy settings.  Here are 5 things to watch for when socializing online:

1. Clickbait Headlines – Unbelievable headlines written with your click in mind can sometimes direct you to dangerous websites or inappropriate material.

2. Fake Friends – Social engineers impersonate people you know and send you fiend requests in hopes of gaining access to private information.

3. Phishing Attacks – Just like with random links in emails, think before you click on social media platforms, especially when it comes to shortened URLs, which can be used to hide their addresses.

4. Like-Farming – A common scam found on Facebook which is known as like-farming, involves fake pages offering bogus promotions or free products in exchange for a like or a share. Once they get enough activity, they often switch the content to feature fraudulent material or they sell the page, along with your info, to other scammers.

5. Employment Cons – Fraudsters target people looking for jobs by posting malicious ads that say something like “work from home and make a bunch of money!” Never forget that if something sounds too good to be true, it’s probably not true.

At QNB Trust, we offer online banking security to miigate risks stemming from phishing and hacking scams in real-time.