Planning on launching that new corporate social media initiative this year? While this has the potential to be a boon opportunity for many companies, it is important to remember that it opens up new and dangerous avenues for fraudsters to siphon sensitive PII and UBI. Any employees involved in directly engaging customers through social media outlets must be trained to recognize and avoid potential scams and to never divulge information such as passwords, logins, or the like. Outlining in the company’s social media policy – specifically what types of PII or UBI can and cannot be divulged – will also help employees understand the parameters of this new communications channel.

Once your company establishes a presence on any social networking site, set up a system to not only check for signs of unauthorized access to or use of your company’s account, but to also look for signs that someone has spoofed the site. A fraudster may try to steal business or to lure your customers into providing personal information.  Use automated alert capabilities available through search engines to learn of any mention of your company name or company’s online user names found on the web. This could alert your company to possible fraudulent activity before significant damage is done to your reputation or customers.

Tags: PII, social media fraud, social media policy, UBI

Categories: Social Media.