Everyone leaves too many traces behind when using social networks and other Internet resources. Of course, anonymity on the Internet can be made into a cult: never register on social networks, never pay by card in online shops, never order parcels to your real address and so on.
But you cannot be paranoid and at the same time exercise some caution on the Internet to remain anonymous and not to shine your personal data.
In this article let’s look at the basic steps you should take to remain anonymous.
You need a separate SIM card to register accounts
When you sign up to various dating sites, social networks and other platforms, you often give your personal phone number or email address. We do not recommend this, as your phone number can be used to find out almost all information about a person. The best way out of this situation is to create a virtual phone number for SMS. It is much easier and safer to verify your accounts in Internet.
Choose virtual numbers from any country, which you can rent permanently or change daily for a new one. For example, you can use an SMS verification service like SMS-man.
This popular service allows you to receive SMS on virtual numbers from 256 different countries and register accounts on more than 1,000 different platforms.
Create a separate e-mail for the same purpose
Another basic rule of internet hygiene. Create an e-mail address for registering accounts on the Internet. It’s also better to keep its address private, as that way you’ll be even safer.
You can use traditional email services. There are many email services where you don’t even have to provide your phone number to register.
What’s best not to post on social media?
If you use social networks to communicate with family, friends and associates, leave as little information about yourself as possible.
A tip: Replacing Cyrillic letters with similar Latin letters helps to keep first and last names out of search results.
Full name + date of birth make it possible to find a person in various online services. To preserve your anonymity, you can lie a little. Change the section where you live or change your last name a little, when communicating with your loved ones, it will not play any role, but you make it much harder to find information about you for all those who do not like you.
Publish your personal photos and notes under lock and key, so open your profile to friends only. Of course, this won’t stop the authorities. But it will get rid of unnecessary attention from random people.
Here’s a list of things you should never publish on social media:
- Plans to leave home (on holiday, business trip, etc.). Don’t make life easy for flat thieves. It is not unreasonable to hint that someone is staying at home;
- Your main phone number. Especially if bank and other important accounts are linked to it;
- Posts about making a big purchase;
- Announcements of successful deals that have brought in a lot of money just for you;
- Posts about lost documents or number plates – the chance of being extorted from you by fraudsters is greater than the chance of finding them.
Be careful with social networking groups
It’s not hard to guess that you are planning to buy a flat if you add yourself to 10 groups like “Buy a flat in the UAE”. The list of groups you are a member of will tell almost more about you than entries on the page. By these groups is then very easy to navigate all sorts of fraud and spammers.
It is a good idea to have a separate social networking account and not to add friends from the main profile there. At the same time you will be less distracted by spam. You can also simply hide the group list in the privacy settings of any social network.
Think about what you publish on your page
Don’t use a clear, full-face photo for your avatar. Try a photo from an unusual angle. Then people you know will recognize you, while tracking the faces in your photo will probably not.
What kind of photos you can’t post online:
- A photo near a house with a link to a location. Never use geotags; turn them off in your camera settings;
- Photos and scans of documents;
- Photos of tickets to concerts, sporting events, etc. – These can be used by other people;
- Photos of bank cards. And certainly not the issue date and CVC/CVV.
Conclusion
Smart vigilance is always a good idea. Don’t trust the internet too much – don’t share personal information with strangers, so you don’t run into unnecessary problems. Too much online is tied up with you sharing personal information. Don’t forget that. In today’s world, you personally are the most marketable yet expensive product. So increase your value by making data collection more difficult.
