Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties What Identity Thieves Want from Your Facebook Profile Social media is just that—social. And a big part of it is sharing photos when you’re out celebrating something, such as your birthday. However, these two things—photos of yourself and your date of birth—can be all someone needs to steal your identity and start opening bank accounts, credit cards and other things in your name. Frank Abagnale, a famous fraud-prevention specialist, has said that “98 percent of stealing a person’s identity is just finding their date of birth and an image of them.” While you may not want to delete every photo of yourself from Facebook, or leave your birthday off your profile page, you can at least limit who sees them. Hiding Your Date of Birth Click on your name and then click on the About tab. On the left are several categories that you can edit. Click on Contact and Basic Info to get to your birthdate—

  Information is brought to you by Hope Leitner Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties How to Protect Your Identity Online Protecting your identity online requires more than just ignoring spam emails from unknown senders, especially when it comes to using WiFi. Whether at home or in public, most people nowadays use wireless networks to save data on their phone plans or avoid spotty internet connections. However, this convenience comes at a risk. If you’re not careful, hackers might access your WiFi connection and compromise sensitive information stored on your device and in online accounts. To help keep your information secure no matter where you’re surfing the web, the Federal Communications Commission offers the following tips: Public WiFi When in public places, such as a coffee shop, check the validity of WiFi hotspots. If more than one hotspot appears claiming to belong to the establishment you’re in, check with the staff to avoid connecting to an imposter network. E