The Facebook quizzes that might not be as innocent as they look

Know those harmless-looking quizzes on Facebook: ‘Who was your first teacher in Primary school?’ Or ‘What was your first car?’ They might not be as innocent as they look.

There are many ways in which we are invited to share our personal information online. Some are harmless, but some are set up by criminals as data-harvesting initiatives.

There are posts and quizzes on sites like Facebook that ask you questions like:

• What was your favourite teacher’s name?

• Who was your first teacher in Primary school?

• What was your first car?

• What was the name of your first pet?

• What street did you grow up on?

These questions are used by many organisations as security measures, and are what they will ask you if you forget your password. They use these questions because they are things that only you or your close friends and family are likely to know.

If you put the answers to these questions up online, they are no longer a safe and secure way to determine your identity, and the easier it is for hackers and other criminals to access your accounts.

Next time you encounter a situation like this, before you post personal details online, consider if it is worth helping someone to get access to your bank account?