Selfies have taken the world by storm as a result of the development of smartphones and social media platforms. A whopping 92 million selfies are taken every day; that’s an average of seven minutes per day that we spend taking pictures of ourselves.

Today, Friday, June 21^st, is National Selfie Day and what better way to celebrate by taking a few steps – while snapping those pics – to protect your-selfie from getting taken advantage of by a cybercriminal.

In this digital age, as we know, it’s easier than ever to take, send, and post pictures at any time. And you might ask yourself, "What danger could come from innocently posting pictures of yourself online for your friends to see?". Let’s just say, there’s a few things to keep in mind.

After all, the selfie phenomenon is a fun form of self-expression and way to capture the moment. Seems innocent enough… right? While your intentions may be harmless, scammers are not. They will find any avenue to get to your money, even if that means stealing your identity, and your selfie.

Over the last two years, about one in four people who reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about losing money to fraud, said the scam started on social media. Over those two years, identity fraud by way of social media, reached $2.7 billion.

It may seem like a strange concept – having your information stolen through the simple act of taking and posting a selfie. That said, it does happen.

Cybercriminals will use information from your social media posts, such as a birthday post, to collect data to steal your identity. Scammers will use the information they’ve gathered from social media to pretend to be you to open credit accounts.

Trying to halt the flood of selfies on social media, or pleading with scammers to change their tactics is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon, but don’t worry! There are some strategies that you can use to protect yourself so that you can post your selfies safely. You can protect yourself against selfie scams by:

• Using different passwords for every social media account.
• Turning off location services.
• Considering what is in the background of your selfies and ensuring that no personally identifiable information is accessible through what’s in the background of your selfies.
• Utilizing privacy settings to help shut out social media scammers from accessing your personal information.
• Turning off automatic location-tagging so as to not expose the general whereabouts of you or your loved ones.

National Selfie Day also involves more than just sharing moments – it’s about safeguarding your privacy and preserving personally identifiable information (PII) from cybercriminals. And be sure to protect your selfie from getting scammed by engaging in these best practices for posting on social media!