Back-To-School Safety & Elderly Scams Surge
The Know... Now You're in it.
All over the country, local law enforcement is reminding parents not to post personal information and to disable location tags when uploading back-to-school photos online.
🎙️ The chalkboard trend with ages and grades was fun for a time, but now we know that scammers and online predators abuse those images and information. Remove personal information and don’t make the post public. Read Shark-Infested Digital Waters.
Meta just announced the ability to share your “last active location” with the Instagram map. The feature is off by default. Meta says, “If you use location sharing, your location is updated whenever you open the app or return to the app if it’s been running in the background.”
🎙️ Though Instagram has consistently borrowed from competitors’ features, their location sharing is slightly different from Snapchat. The latter offers real-time sharing while Instagram updates only when using the app. Think twice before sharing your location.
Last week the FTC reported an increase in scams targeting the life savings of retired adults. They noted three common lies: “Someone is using your accounts, your information is being used to commit crimes, and there’s a security problem on your computer.”
🎙️ The number of reports filed by older adults losing $10,000 or more rose from 1,790 in 2020 to 8,268 in 2024. We recommend never answering an unknown number. The FTC also recommends never transferring money to “protect it” and blocking unwanted calls. Spread the word to inform friends and family.
Yesterday YouTube started rolling out AI age verification to a “small set” of users in the United States. It interprets certain “signals” that “include the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched, or the longevity of the account.” A credit card or government ID would be required if the system mistakes an adult user as a minor.
🎙️ While some platforms hold out hope for device or app store level age verification, X and YouTube aren’t waiting around. Since the UK’s Online Safety Act went into effect on July 25th, expect more companies to follow suit.
And don’t miss Jill’s article last week on the communicative magic of food. Check out It's Hard to Yell When You're Eating a Donut.