bbs posting security

[diverdan]

How do our posts on these forums make us vulnerable to theft and scams? I just did a search for images of a certain car and wound up with photos of two cars that I owned one of which was not even the object of the search. I traced the origin of the two photos back to posts made here. Seems like it could be a great smorgasbord for car thieves and scammers. This is especially true for owners of older cars that have gone ballistic in value. How can we protect ourselves? Do we wipe out our profiles? What about garage listings here and on other on line parts distributors? I once was paranoid when my 69 911 S was stripped back in the days of high Porsche theft in L. A. I sold the S and bought a Miura which I figured was of lesser interest to thieves and much harder for them to fence. We have a great group, but there are some unsavory lurkers who could do some major damage. What can we do to be proactive and defeat and put away these scumbags?

Diverdan

[911SauCy]

Short answer, nothing. You can't prove something by accused intent, even if you feel it's blatant and obvious.

Heck, most cyber criminals cross international boundaries which leaves nothing for local law enforcement to go on.

I assume everything I post to the internet is unsecured and should be thought through before being shared. Remember, it never goes away.

[john70t]

Google images will find your own pics anywhere on the net.
It's a manual process.
Only one pic at a time.
Someone on the street or an event could take all the pics of your car they wanted as well.

There are also "reputation protection" companies that might set up some kind of automatic notification service, but....they would need automatic links to all your online posts...

This might be an idea for a new internet startup for the individual.
The anti-facebook.
Instead of spreading your information (without consent) it would attempt to limit it.

But of course these centralized sources of personal information and profiles are ripe for the picking from the government and overseas hacker/scammers.

Loop. Back to square one.
I don't know.

[GWN7]

If someone wants what you have and they want it bad enough, there is really nothing you can do.

[techweenie]

I do not get the issue. If somebody finds an image of a car you own or used to own, how have you been violated?

The folks who know about you are not the 'thieves and scammers,' but the corporations - you can go to some of the more public ones like Rapleaf and opt out

TowerData, Formerly Rapleaf.com

But retailers (through data triangulators like Rapleaf) have an average of 1500 points of data on everyone active on the Internet. Presume the NSA has all that and more.

[Aragorn]

Personal pics are sometimes picked up by people for catfishing.
Strangers Have Been Using This Woman's Photos To Catfish People For 10 Years - Business Insider

I have also heard stories of some desirable car photos making their way into phony craigslist ads.

Like anything in life lately...caveat emptor...

[john70t]

Originally Posted by techweenie

TowerData, Formerly Rapleaf.com

In this new cyber-security age of federal data transmission, Aaron Swartz, and Kim Dotcom(a CEO!)...
How does that private company even exist?

-My spouse's affair and the kids...
-My Hollywood actress obsession who will love me or die...
-My attorney...
-My doctor...

[GH85Carrera]

I have always operated that anything posted on the internet in public. And that includes email I send.

[diverdan]

I have no problem with sharing photos. However, when those photos are tied to data about myself, perhaps including where I live, when I'm not at home and so forth, it makes me a little nervous. Its just too easy for someone to advertise a car, line up customers, and then pick out the owners and boost the car. The car would be effectively sold before being stolen.

[GH85Carrera]

Almost any photo you take with smart phone has location information embedded in it. You have to turn off that feature or go in and edit out the geotag information or change it to a bogus location.

[wdfifteen]

Try googleing your name, screen name(s), email addresses, etc. I come up on Twitter and Instagram and I've never used either one of them. It's scary.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by diverdan

I have no problem with sharing photos. However, when those photos are tied to data about myself, perhaps including where I live, when I'm not at home and so forth, it makes me a little nervous. Its just too easy for someone to advertise a car, line up customers, and then pick out the owners and boost the car. The car would be effectively sold before being stolen.

As per your original post as well.

There is not much that can be done to pre-empt the bad guys other than don't post anything.