Online Safety Tip: Don’t Show Your Vaccination Card On Social Media
With more and more people getting their COVID-19 vaccination in the Northland, you're likely seeing more related announcements on social media. It's great to see, but be careful what you show to everyone on any such platform.
The Better Business Bureau is warning everyone not to show their vaccination card on social media. The official COVID-19 vaccination card has your full name and birthday on it, as well as information about where you got your vaccine. If your social media privacy settings aren’t set high, you may be giving valuable information away for anyone to use.
Not only is privacy an issue, but scammers in Great Britain were caught selling fake vaccination cards on eBay and TikTok. The Better Business Bureau fears it’s only a matter of time before similar cons come to the United States and Canada. Posting photos of your card can help provide scammers with information they can use to create and sell phony ones.
In order to protect yourself and others, here are some helpful tips on how to share safely on social media:
- Share your vaccine sticker or use a profile frame instead. If you want to post about your vaccine, there are safer ways to do it. You can share a photo of your vaccine sticker or set a frame around your profile picture.
- Review your security settings. Check your security settings on all social media platforms to see what you are sharing and with whom. If you only want friends and family to see your posts, be sure that’s how your privacy settings are configured.
- Be wary of answering popular social media prompts. Sharing your vaccine photo is just the latest social trend. Think twice before participating in other viral personal posts, such as listing all the cars you’ve owned (including makes/model years), favorite songs, and top 10 TV shows. Some of these “favorite things” are commonly used passwords or security questions.
The bottom line is to play it safe. Unless it's from a group you know and trust, you should really scrutinize each and every time you post to social media and be well aware of your security settings.