If you’ve been on Facebook, chances are you’ve come across those viral social media post chains where it asks you to enter stuff like your first street name and your mother’s maiden name so you can find out what your stripper tag is and what not before telling you to share the post to 10 friends.
It’s all innocent fun, right? Well sure, if you want to pay for said innocent fun by having your personal info land in the hands of unsavoury internet strangers.
You see, the questions asked in those viral social media post chains, such as your pet’s first name, mum’s maiden name, your date of birth, and the street you grew up on, seem harmless, but that’s all personal info about you that you’re sharing publicly with strangers online.
More worryingly, those sorts questions are the more or less the exact same ones banking institutions and most things you have an account with use as security questions.
So while it may seem like you’re sharing innocent little deets about yourself with these viral social media post chains, you’re actually giving strangers a teasing look at how to access your bank and Netflix accounts.
Now that’s to say it’s all bad if you were one of the many folks who got duped into sharing some personal info in exchange for finding out what your stripper name is.
Would-be criminals trying to access your personal accounts will need a bit more info than what your first pet’s name was, such as your password and the like, but just be wary nonetheless because you never know what could happen and what you may have inadvertently let slip online.
So next time you come across one of those viral post chains asking for deets about yourself in order to make some funny answer, be on your guard and just make stuff up.
Chances are your stripper name will be funnier if you used made-up info than had you used your actual personal deets anyway.