Social media can be a profitable playground of scammers. But you don’t have to drop out of your networks or stay off your feeds to keep the crooks out. Locking down your privacy settings, keeping your network small, and being conservative about what you post are your best bets.
With so many horror stories and negative statistics swirling around social media, it’s a relief when we get some good news related to it.
How about this: It’s actually relatively straightforward to put your profiles on lockdown to help better protect you and your loved ones from scammers.
The latest with scammers and social media
Scammers are relentless, ever-evolving pros at trickery, and social media is one of their favorite playgrounds.
In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that in 2025, people reported losing more than $2.1 billion on scams tied to social media, making it the costliest method of fraud contact for victims.
Social media has also become a rich source of photos, videos, and audio that criminals can use to create convincing AI-generated impersonations, often called deepfakes.
And according to Javelin Strategy & Research, scammers aren't always after an immediate payout. In its 2025 Identity Fraud Study, 71 percent of scam victims reported being tricked into sharing personal information such as email addresses, phone numbers, or banking details—information that can be used for future identity theft, account takeover, and additional scams.
Social media scams and crimes are powered by bad actors who:
Post bogus social media ads and endorsements
Send phishing attempts powered by AI and impostors
Hack accounts to facilitate other crimes and identity theft
Comment scams
Here’s a phishing attack financial guru Suze Orman warned her Instagram and Facebook followers about in June 2026: “Scammers are targeting you when you post to me. They reply to comments you may make here.”
“Please know that this is the only Instagram and Facebook account I have. I will never ask you to communicate with me on these sites. Don’t open any messages from these unknown accounts and report any such profiles as scams or impersonations of me,” said Orman.
“Comment scams,” like the ones Orman mentions, use AI-powered tools to scan the comments we post on social media and target us. They might pose as a well-known influencer or celebrity, like Orman, who wants to tell you about a great investment opportunity. Or, if your comment relates to a product, they might pretend to be someone from the company that makes the item.
These impostors ask for anything from your home address to financial information, ostensibly to send you swag (a prize), process a refund, ship replacement goods, or help you invest. When you fork over your card number (to cover shipping and handling), share the original payment method details (for a refund), or give your bank account number (to allow investment transfers), the crooks can steal your money.
Deepfake scams
Other social media phishing scams involve scammers who hijack your likeness—voice and/or image—by stealing it from the videos and photos you and your friends post, publicly or privately.
Using deepfake technology, they may pretend to be you to scam your friends, family, and coworkers out of money.
Lock down your social media profile with these practical tips
Now it’s time for the good news: Follow these ten tips can help make you a stronger link in your social network.
Adjust your profile settings. Unless your account must be public for business, set it to private. If it is for work, create a second, personal profile you share only with close family and friends. Don’t include your birthdate, address, phone number, marital status, etc., in your visible profile details.
Practice login credential safety. Use unique, strong passwords, or enable a passkey. Don’t share your social media login credentials or use them to sign into other apps, games, quizzes, or sites.
Enable multifactor authentication. Adding this verification layer may delay your access for a moment, but it’s worth it to keep scammers and other hackers out of your accounts.
Keep your network small. Only befriend people you actually know, and those you know well.
Set content boundaries with your friends and family. Ask friends and family not to post or tag you, your children, your home, and so on, without your permission. If someone in your network doesn’t comply or otherwise compromises your safety on social media, consider removing them from your network.
Mind your digital footprint. Avoid commenting on or reacting to the posts of anyone you don’t personally know. Consider any comment or reaction to be permanent and part of the public record, even if you delete them, even if they were shared in private channels.
Keep things confidential. No matter how stringent your protections and settings are, only post what you’re OK with a total stranger seeing.
Vet pages and groups you join. Don’t join any that don’t have a track record, and a good one at that. Skip those with members who post inflammatory, divisive, or inappropriate material and comments. Consider lax or no community rules a red alarm. Assume whatever you join and whoever you follow is public, no matter your settings.
Delete old, unused accounts. These so-called “zombie accounts” tend to be susceptible to takeover and fraud.
Watch what, when, and how you post. For example: Don’t post photos that identify your home’s exterior or floorplan, your address, security devices, or routers. Don’t post vacation photos until you return home. Don’t livestream from easy-to-identify locations when you are away from home (even if you’re just enjoying a night on the town). Don’t give detailed specifics about your plans and/or locations before you return home. Don’t post your license plate number.
Adjust which apps share your location. Ideally, none should. In addition to denying location sharing for apps and browsers, adjust your device settings. For example, on iOS, go to Settings, Privacy, Location, Location Services. On Android, go to Settings, App permissions.