E-safety when selling your home |

Your phone number has now become your ID along with your address. There are not many things that you can sign up or online without giving out your personal info. Whether you’re getting hair extensions or buying a car – they’ll ask for your details. When I booked my bridal makeup, I had to provide my card details over the phone! Real estate is no different. Most forms will ask you to fill out the address and phone number section of a form and most won’t let you go any further until you have done so. The interactive forms don’t let you accidentally “forget” to enter your address and phone number and some sites even have validators that won’t allow you to enter fake a fake address or a different postcode. When you enter your information online you are opening yourself up to spam and hackers. There are telemarketers waiting to grab your address and phone number to annoy you with harassing calls.

The mail marketers need your address to send out brochures and entering phone numbers and address are only a routine and many people don’t understand the dangers this brings. You will get mailing offers and annoying calls which is what happens when you put your private information online.

Identity theft

One thing that can happen when you enter your personal info online is identity theft. When someone has your address and phone number with your name it is most times all they need to start criminal activities.

Hacking accounts

Social media platforms and emails will require you to enter your phone number for security reasons. Hackers can install programs in websites that can record all of your info when it is entered. Ensure you have a two-step verification set up.

It is very likely that your phone number and address are already online but not everyone knows how to find them. Most businesses can even give out your information to third parties that they are in conjunction with. Companies will pay for valid phone numbers etc and every time you sign up for something you run the risk of your information being sent to others.

Avoid putting your information online if you can help it. If you are required to put your address and phone number into a real estate website give them a call first and see what protection they have or hackers and whether they can give out your information or not.
if the site seems unsafe then your best to steer clear. Be smart about how you share your information if you are required to enter an address but nothing is being sent out see if you can put your street name without the number or even spell it incorrectly if you are not getting any products or services getting sent to your home but you are required to put in an address.

Check when you enter a website and see if there is a little lock at the beginning of the URL this indicates the site is safe if there is no lock then consider steering clear of the website.

There is more than one website for different services so if one isn’t secure or wants too much personal information then consider looking for another one that is more secure.

You can safely enter your info online as long as you are paying attention to the creditability of the website and getting in contact with them about how secure their site is.