What to Tell Your Kids about Online Identity Theft

The Internet is a dangerous place. If you are not cautious enough, it strips you bare in front of many who are waiting to take advantage of you and your kid’s innocence. You may not be vulnerable, but your kids definitely are. They are too young to understand the traps laid by mischievous programmers and marketers on the Internet. It is your duty to tell them how to remain safe while surfing the web.

Ask them not to share their home address phone telephone numbers

Addresses and phone numbers are the first thing that an identity thief will steal from your kids. This information appears quite simple and innocuous, but it is not. Warn your kids to not share these details with anyone without your permission.

Safeguard your social security number

Social security number is the second thing that are most sought after among identity thieves. Warn your kids against sharing this data on the Internet, no matter what.

Sharing family picture

You should also discourage your kids from sharing your personal family pictures with strangers or net friends on the internet. You will have to tell your kids about various kinds of traps being set by these people to steal family pictures.

Financial information

Credit card and other financial information are gold mine for identity thieves. They wait for innocent kids and lure them in sharing the credit cards and other financial details of their parents. Do not give your kids access to your credit cards and other financial information.

Tell them about secure server

This is the most basic and the most important thing to tell your kids. Tell them to look for https, in place of http, and a padlock in the status bar of the browser before sharing any information on the website. Also ask them not to share any information, if the certificate of the website is expired. Also make them aware of the hack sites.

These are the basic things you need to tell your kids to make their online journey safe for them as well as your family.