Since social media became a thing, there have been online creepers. Ways to know if you are being digitally stalked include someone you do not know asking for pictures of you or asking where you live.
Don’t Know Them? Don’t Trust Them
When you get social media, do not follow anyone that you do not know. Only follow the people you know, like close family and friends. Even if you go to their account and you see one of your friends following them, you still do not know them, so Do Not Follow Them.
Never Text a Stranger
This goes with the previous point. If someone texts you that you do not know, report and block them. If you text back, then they may be able to hack into your account and steal your information. There are multiple ways someone can hack into your account, like baiting, phishing, and pretexting. Baiting, as Google defines, is “creating content specifically designed to provoke an emotional reaction, such as curiosity, outrage, or excitement, to boost engagement.” The stories are bogus, but they just want clicks. Phishing is a scam where attackers trick people into revealing sensitive information or installing viruses. Finally, pretexting is where scammers impersonate someone you know or a legitimate business to get you to reveal personal information or perform harmful actions.
Picture Requests
If someone asks for a picture of you, do not do it because if they get a picture of you, they can use your picture for identification theft and blackmail. How can someone blackmail you? Well, say you sent a vulnerable picture of yourself. They can use that picture to tell you to send more pictures, or they can post the picture and say that you sent this picture randomly. Just in surveying the females on our Titan Times staff, 70% have received sexually inappropriate messages and requests for pictures of themselves. A sophomore staffer received a message on Instagram from a random saying he was in love with her and wanted pictures and her address. Our staffers have also reported requests for feet pics. Don’t do it, even if they offer you hundreds. It’s likely a scam, and it’s disgusting. In addition, don’t fall prey to “sugar daddy” messages. A sugar daddy message is when a supposed wealthy man asks a young girl (“sugar baby”) for pics and online companionship in exchange for money. The people sending these sorts of messages are sick scammers looking to harm you.
Online Safety
Overall, if you get socials, do not follow anyone whom you don’t trust or know. All of this stuff can happen with just a snap of a finger and threaten your well-being. When random people ask for private or inappropriate things, they may be capable of ruining your life. If something seems phishy, delete and block. Be smart online, Titans!
