A TIKTOK trend has exposed just how easy it is for someone to obtain seemingly innocent information from Facebook to use it against you.
Most viewers find the prank funny but others point out that it’s “creepy” and shows how social media can be used by questionable characters to “hack your life”.
TikTok /@et.nyaPrankster tracked down user’s father to carry out his trick[/caption]
The trick is pulled off by pranksters who impersonate a member of your family with easily obtainable information from Facebook.
They go onto people’s TikTok Live video feeds and track down a family member on Facebook.
Once they’ve found someone, they can download a photo of the family member and upload it to TikTok as their profile image.
The prank gets started when they message the target live so that they think it’s their family member messaging them.
But TikTok trickster et.nya goes a step further when user Alex Goedhart questions whether the person claiming to be her father is real.
“My dad just commented… unless someone is pretending to be my dad,” she said during the TikTok Live.
“Hey, if this is really you, what’s my nickname?”
The prankster then looks on her dad’s Facebook profile and stumbles across a photo of the pair in which he appears to use her nickname – “Bugg” – in the caption.
As such, she instantly seems to believe it’s her dad.
Though this example is meant to be humorous it demonstrates how a bad actor could do the same and worse with ease.
And it should serve as a warning to people to be careful about what they post online.
“this is impressive and scary,” one viewer commented.
“I feel like this is proof to why social media can be funny but scary you can get personal info so quick,” another person said.
“actually kinda creepy lol,” a third person wrote.
“People don’t know how powerful the internet is please better keep privet and don’t upload your life here cause it can take quick turn,” said a fourth user.
And another warned: “And this is how you social engineer someone and hack their life.”
Alex, the user who was tricked, commented on the video, saying: “It’s pitiful that people insist on being fake I feel bad for people that have to do this to get views.”
TikTok /@et.nyaTrickster got the info he needed from a seemingly innocent photo caption[/caption]
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