WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Criminologist Dr. Alex Del Carmen explains how innocent school photos can expose personal information that puts children at risk for identity theft and other dangers
- Be aware of posting photos with boards that have your child's name, age, teacher and school they attend. This is an automatic danger to your child and family
- When posting on social media, there's usually geospatial location on the actual picture which can give away your location quickly and put you and your family in danger
- Make sure your location services when taking the photo are off and post privately so people you only know can see
- You can share back-to-school photos with 25 News by submitting them here.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Parents posting first day of school pictures could be sharing more information than they realize, potentially putting their children at risk.
Those adorable back-to-school photos often contain personal information like a child's name, grade, school and teacher's name — details that could be exploited by those with harmful intentions.
"The reality is that there is a criminal component attached to it that proposes vulnerability to not only the parents, but also the children," said Dr. Alex Del Carmen.
Del Carmen explained that modern technology makes it easier than ever to extract information from photos shared online.
"When you take a picture of a loved one using a cell phone, now people have the capability of doing what's called a geospatial location on the actual picture, and what that means is that we can find out where you took the picture and at what time you took the picture. So you're essentially telling the world where your child is and where your child is going to school," Del Carmen said.
According to the Better Business Bureau, scammers use this information for identity theft. School uniforms and other identifying details can make children easily recognizable.
"You're likely going to be posting his or her name, and you're also likely going to be posting if they have a private school, their uniform, or their affiliation. So he or she will be easily identifiable by somebody that wants to cause harm on them," Del Carmen said.
For parents who still want to share these milestone moments, Del Carmen recommends several safety measures.
"Make sure that your postings are not public, that they're private, and make sure that when you do post the picture, you prompt yourself to ensure that there is no geospatial component," Del Carmen said.
He also suggests using apps that can remove identifying backgrounds from photos.
"There are apps out there that allow you to sort of clean out the background so that you can just post the generic picture without the background identification on it. So make sure you use all of those components in place to give as little information as you possibly can about where your child is attending school, their name or your name or where you live," Del Carmen said.
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