With a 13% increase in identity fraud between 2010 and 2011, a study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research showed that consumers may be putting themselves at a higher risk for identity theft as a result of their increasingly intimate social media behaviors. Sixty-eight percent of people with public social media profiles on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter shared their birthday information with 45% of them getting into specifics about the exact month, day, and year. Sixty-three percent shared where exactly they attended high school. Eighteen percent shared their phone number and 12% shared their pet’s name. Not only are all of these details typically asked when verifying an identity, but people also frequently use them in passwords. The statistics are clear — people are giving away far too much personal information on social networking sites, allowing for fraudsters to easily steal their identities.
