Experts Advise Users to Stop Sharing Pictures of Credit Cards and IDs on the Web

Security experts warn of the dangers posed by publishing pictures of credit cards, driver’s licenses and other identification documents on services such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Cybercriminals often commit identity fraud by utilizing information that’s freely available online. This task is made easy for them by the large number of users who intentionally post pictures that expose their personal details.

Trend Micro experts have found that the Web is full of pictures that contain sensitive information.

“Most of the driver’s license or debit/credit cards I’ve seen belonged to teenagers, possibly 16 to 18 year olds, who are too young and unaware of the effects of their actions,” Trend Micro Senior Threat Researcher Loucif Kharouni explained.

“This also seems to be a growing practice all over the world – from American teenagers posting pictures of their driver’s license to people from Asia uploading their passports and IDs.”

He highlights the fact that cybercriminals can perform a simple search on Instagram, Twitter and even Google in order to obtain sensitive data.

While it may seem that the information cannot be misused, in reality, crooks can utilize it for all sorts of evil purposes, including for performing illegal transactions, for purchasing items, and even for covering their tracks.

Back in July, we learned of a Twitter account called NeedADebitCard which retweeted the posts that contained pictures of payment cards.

Despite the fact that there has been a lot of press coverage on the topic, new pictures of cards are published each day, which shows that many users are still unaware of the dangers of oversharing.

So, next time you’re thinking of showing off your brand new credit card or your driver’s license, remember that a fraudster might be lurking nearby.