Reading Time: 6 minutes

Every day, without realising it, many people share more about themselves online than they would ever share with a stranger on the street. A photo here. A comment there. A form filled in. A competition entered. Each piece of information seems harmless on its own. Together they build a detailed picture that criminals, fraudsters and identity thieves can use in ways that cause very real harm.

This article is not about making you afraid of the internet. It is about helping you understand which information is genuinely sensitive, why it matters, and what simple habits protect you — so you can use the internet confidently without giving away more than you intend to.

The information puzzle

Think of your personal information as pieces of a puzzle. A single piece on its own tells you almost nothing. But as more pieces come together, a picture emerges.

A criminal who knows your name can’t do much. But a criminal who knows your name, your ID number, your date of birth, your phone number, your bank’s name, your suburb, and the school your children attend has almost everything needed to impersonate you — to apply for credit in your name, to perform a SIM swap, to answer security questions, or to target your family.

None of those pieces of information is dramatically sensitive on its own. But shared separately across different platforms over time, they accumulate into a complete identity profile.

This is why the habit to build is not just “don’t share your ID number” — it’s a broader awareness of what you share, where, and with whom.

Your ID number — treat it like a key

Your South African ID number is the single most powerful piece of personal information you have. It is your unique identifier across almost every system in the country — banking, credit, government, healthcare, and more.

With your ID number alone — or combined with just a little other information — a fraudster can:

• Apply for store credit or personal loans in your name
• Open new bank accounts or mobile contracts
• Apply for a SIM swap on your phone number
• Answer identity verification questions at financial institutions
• Submit fraudulent insurance claims
• Apply for government grants in your name

Never share your ID number:

• In a social media post or comment
• In a WhatsApp group
• In a competition entry on a website you don’t fully trust
• Over the phone to someone who called you
• On any form that doesn’t clearly need it for a legitimate, obvious reason

Legitimate organisations — your bank, Home Affairs, SASSA, your doctor’s rooms — have valid reasons to ask for your ID number. A website offering you a prize, a caller offering you a deal, or a WhatsApp message asking you to verify your identity do not.

Your home address — more sensitive than it seems

Your home address tells someone where you sleep. Combined with other information it enables physical risk — burglary, targeted crime, uninvited visits.

Be thoughtful about:

Location tags on photos. Many phones automatically add your GPS location to photos when you take them. When you post these photos online, that location data can travel with the image. Switch off location tagging in your camera settings if you’re concerned — Settings → Camera → untick or disable location access.

“Just arrived home” posts. Posting on Facebook or WhatsApp that you’ve just returned home tells anyone watching that your house was empty while you were out — and that you’re now there alone.

Holiday posts. Posting photos while you’re on holiday announces that your home is unoccupied. A better habit is sharing holiday photos when you’re back home. The memories are just as meaningful shared a week later, and you haven’t broadcast an empty house to your entire contact list.

Delivery and shopping forms. Your address on a legitimate shopping or delivery form is generally fine — Takealot, Checkers Sixty60 and similar reputable retailers need it to deliver. Be cautious about entering your home address on unfamiliar websites or in competitions run by unknown organisers.

Your children’s information

Children’s personal information deserves particular care — not because sharing a photo of your grandchild is dangerous in itself, but because certain information combined creates risk.

Be cautious about posting:

• Full names of children alongside photos
• The name of a child’s school
• A child’s grade or age combined with their school
• Photos that show your street, house number or neighbourhood clearly
• Your child’s daily routine — “every Tuesday after school”

None of this means you can’t share family photos. It means being thoughtful about how much detail accompanies them. A photo of children at the beach is completely different from a captioned photo that names them, their school, their grade, and their suburb.

Banking details — know what’s safe to share

There is genuine confusion about which banking details can be shared and which cannot. Here is a clear guide:

Safe to share for receiving a payment:

• Your account number
• Your bank name
• Your branch code (though this is rarely needed for modern EFT)

When someone owes you money and needs to pay you, these details allow them to make an EFT into your account. Sharing them does not allow anyone to take money out.

Never share:

• Your card PIN — under any circumstances, with anyone
• Your online banking password
• Your banking app password
• Your OTP (one-time PIN) — not with anyone, ever, including someone claiming to be from your bank
• Your card’s CVV number (the 3 digits on the back) — except when you are personally making an online purchase on a secure website that you initiated
• Your full card number — only ever entered on a secure website you have navigated to yourself

The crucial distinction is this: your account number lets people put money in. Your PIN, password, OTP and CVV let people take money out. Keep the second category absolutely private.

What you share in online competitions and forms

Online competitions are one of the most effective ways criminals collect personal information at scale. A competition that asks for your name, phone number, email address, ID number and suburb — in exchange for a chance to win a prize — may exist solely to harvest that data.

Before entering any online competition or filling in any form:

Ask why they need this information. A competition to win a grocery voucher has no legitimate reason to ask for your ID number or your children’s names. If the information requested seems excessive for the stated purpose, it probably is.

Check who is running it. Is it the official social media page of a well-known brand, with thousands of followers and a history of posts? Or is it a new page with few followers and no track record?

Read the fine print. Many competition entry forms include consent to receive marketing or to share your information with third parties. This consent is buried in small print and many people agree without reading it.

Established South African retailers and brands do run legitimate competitions. Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Checkers and similar brands run genuine promotions through their verified social media pages and websites. These are generally safe. The risk lies with unknown organisers, new pages, and competitions that arrive via WhatsApp from friends who forward things without checking.

Social media privacy settings — an important review

Whatever social media platforms you use — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or others — it is worth spending 10 minutes reviewing your privacy settings. Most platforms default to settings that are more public than most people realise.

On Facebook specifically:

Go to Settings → Privacy. Check:

• Who can see your future posts? — set to Friends, not Public
• Who can see your friends list? — consider setting to Only me or Friends
• Who can look you up using your phone number? — set to Friends or No one
• Do you want search engines to link to your profile? — turn this off

On any platform:

• Avoid listing your phone number, home address or ID number in any profile field
• Be thoughtful about what your profile photo reveals — your home, your car’s number plate, your street
• Review your follower or friend list occasionally — you may have connections you don’t recognise

A habit worth building — pause before you post or share

Before posting anything publicly or filling in any online form, take three seconds to ask:

Would I be comfortable if a stranger on the street could read this?

For most social media posts the answer is yes and you can proceed without concern. For anything that includes specific personal details — your address, your ID, your children’s names and school, your financial situation, your daily routine — pause and consider whether it needs to be shared, and whether the platform you’re sharing it on is the right place.

This is not about fear. It is about the same awareness you apply in the physical world — you’d think twice before announcing your home address, your daily schedule and your ID number to a crowd of strangers. The internet is a crowd of strangers.

Try this now

Open Facebook or any social media profile you use and check your privacy settings. Find the option that controls who can see your posts and make sure it is set to Friends rather than Public. Then look at your profile information — is your phone number listed? Your home town listed in detail? These take two minutes to adjust and make a meaningful difference to who can see your personal details.

Was this article helpful? Share with friends and family.