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The social season sting

Party invitations, secret-Santa apps and festive quizzes quietly harvest the details that unlock your accounts.

Campaign art: festive social posts on a phone

The scam

Fun prompts — your first pet, your mother's maiden name, the street you grew up on — are the answers to security questions. Shared event invites and gift-exchange sign-ups collect names, addresses and birthdays that fill out an identity profile for later fraud.

How to stay safe

  • Treat quizzes as questionnaires

    Do not answer prompts that double as security answers, and set security questions to random strings stored in your password manager.

  • Keep invitations private

    Use invite links that require sign-in, and avoid public guest lists that expose who will be where, and when.

Shop with confidence

BlackCloak protects your accounts and devices so you can shop safely. Speak to our team about concierge cybersecurity.