While social media can be a great way for you to stay connected with your family and friends, as well as your favorite brands, it also presents opportunities for fraudsters. In one type of scam, fraudsters create fraudulent accounts that resemble the social media pages of legitimate companies, like Bethpage, and, by doing so, can entice you to share your personal or financial information.
When interacting with Bethpage on social media, be sure to look for the following information to ensure you are safely connecting with our accounts:
Here are a few more tips to help you protect yourself and your information on social media:
Watch for these red flags:
- People asking you for advance fees in order to receive a loan, prize or other winnings.
- People asking you to move your conversation off of social media (e.g., a separate email address).
- People claiming to be a friend or relative in an emergency.
- People you don’t know in person asking you for money.
- Poor spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Please note: Bethpage will never initiate a conversation with you asking for your sensitive personal information. Any message you receive from us (the Bethpage brand or Bethpage employees) on social media will come from our official account and will only be in response to a contact you initiated (e.g., commenting on our page or photos; sending us a direct or private message; or mentioning us in a comment or tweet).
Ways to avoid social media scams:
- Be aware that posting personal information as status updates can be used in the following manner:
- Posts about going out of town may leave your house susceptible to robbery.
- Pictures and videos of your house, car, and other personal possessions may allow others to gain identifying information that could be used to impersonate you online or the phone.
- Phishing attempts using information posted online can be used to gain trust in order to obtain non-public information.
- Never login to an account if the link is provided to you through social media.
- When using social media, do not provide personal or financial information unless you initiated the contact and know the contact is authentic.
- Use caution when you click links that you receive in messages from your friends on your social network. Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in email messages.
- Know the social media account handle for the company you are dealing with. Make sure you communicate only with the legitimate account.
- Look closely at the reply you receive and be skeptical. Look for misspelled Twitter handles, email addresses, etc.
If you come across a social media account impersonating Bethpage, or if you fall victim to a social media scam, call Bethpage right away at 800-628-7070.