Staying Safe on Social Media

How to protect your privacy on Facebook and Instagram, spot fake accounts, and avoid the most common social media traps.

3 min read · 6 steps · Checked March 2026

1. Step 1. Lock down your Facebook privacy settings

   On Facebook: tap your profile photo → SettingsPrivacy. Set "Who can see your future posts?" to Friends. Set "Who can send you friend requests?" to Friends of Friends. Set "Who can look you up using your email?" to Friends. These three changes alone dramatically reduce how much strangers can see about you.

   Quick Tip

   Do this check every 6 months — Facebook sometimes resets privacy settings after updates.

2. Step 2. Review your Instagram account settings

   On Instagram: ProfileMenu () → SettingsAccount Privacy → toggle "Private Account" on. This means only people you approve can see your posts. For your business or public page, you'll want to keep it public — but make sure your personal account is private.

3. Step 3. Be careful what you share publicly

   Avoid posting: your home address, phone number, or email; your daily routine or "I'm away on holiday" posts (these tell burglars you're not home); full birthday including year (this is used for identity theft); photos of financial documents, passports, or tickets.

   Warning

   Posting "off on holiday for two weeks!" is essentially advertising to the entire internet that your home is unoccupied.

4. Step 4. Spot and avoid fake profiles

   Fake profiles often: have very few posts or photos; use stock photo profile pictures (do a reverse image search using Google Images to check); send friend requests without mutual friends; quickly ask for money, gift cards, or personal information. If something feels off, trust that feeling.

   Quick Tip

   If you get a friend request from someone you think you're already friends with, check — scammers often clone real accounts.

5. Step 5. Beware of "too good to be true" posts

   Scams on social media often look like: competitions you didn't enter; celebrity giveaways; shocking news stories asking you to click a link; requests to share a post to "win" something. Legitimate competitions don't ask you to share posts to enter.

   Warning

   If you're asked to click a link in a social media message — even from a friend — be very cautious. Their account may have been hacked.

6. Step 6. How to report suspicious accounts

   On Facebook: go to the profile → tap the three dots (···) → Find Support or Report. On Instagram: tap the three dots on a post or profile → Report. Both platforms take reports seriously and act quickly on fake accounts and scams.

   Quick Tip

   Reporting fake accounts doesn't just protect you. It protects everyone else that account might target next. If you believe you have been scammed through social media, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and read the latest alerts at consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts.