15 Tips you need to know to stay safe this year
Enter the new year with some tech-savvy skills to stay safe in our ever-changing digital world.
POLOKWANE – Our lives revolve around the digital world of instant messages, social media, e-mails and many more. At the same time, safety is also important and to combine the digital world with safety is not always easy.
STOP Human Trafficking recently released a book with facts about the organisation, photos as well as information on how to be safe in a fast-developing world.
One of the topics, ever so relevant, is safety in a digital world and online safety. How often do we hear of scams where someone won money but first has to pay an amount to get the money or the prize?
With work being scarce and people being desperate, it is easy for scammers to get people involved.
STOP compiled a list of things to look out for:
• When you look for a job online, try to use reputable job sites. This does not guarantee you being save from a scam but they do a better job of filtering out the dodgy ones.
• Do research on what someone in your type of field would earn per month as scammers would often offer an extravagant amount of money to make their ad stand out more.
• If you are applying for a job, unless it is for modelling, it is highly irregular to send pictures of yourself in order to secure an interview.
• When applying for a modelling job, make sure that it is a reputable agency which you are applying to.
• Pay attention to the type of language being used. Companies that try to be professional will never call you ‘dear’ or ‘sweetie’.
• If an e-mail starts with ‘CONGRATULATION’, there is a 99% chance that it is a scam.
• If you ever get a job you did not apply for, it is a scam.
Safety for photos, friend requests and social media:
• Be aware of the background of the pictures you post on social media as it can give away a lot of clues of your whereabouts. These include street names, schools, landmarks, branded school wear and name tags.
• Remember that even if your Facebook account is private, profile pictures are always public.
• Do not accept friend requests from strangers.
• Sextortion and cyber-bullying are real concerns. Be careful who you allow onto your profiles and what information you share with who. A possible rule of thumbs is to never send out any pictures that you would not send to your grandmother.
• Tagging your location in pictures gives away a lot of information. It can also help strangers or ill intended ‘friends’ to map out your routines or habitual places you visit. Try turning off all geo-tagging on all apps.
• Meeting up with someone you met online is risky. If you choose to do this make sure that you meet in a public place which is busy with lots of people around you.
• Parents: The trend of using a hashtag with your child’s full name in the caption of public photos is very dangerous. If a child is approached by a stranger who knows their full name, they would naturally be inclined to trust them.
• Porn is not as innocent and detached as many portray it to be. Be informed and visit www.fightthenewdrug.org.
