Online Reputation Management Archives

Fake Profiles & Online Impersonation

When watching my local news the other evening, I heard of a case that really surprised me. A Town Commissioner of a small town in North Carolina, disagreed with his fellow board members over a specific topic. So much so, that he decided to create a fake Facebook profile and use it to harrass and argue with residents. Later, he admitted using a Charlotte area businessman’s real name & real profile picture. The surprising part of this is that we expect this from scammers, but not someone who would be sitting on a board of a city or town. It seems that these days, anything is possible. Being proactive is a must.

Online Impersonation Tricks

Facebook Marketplace: Fake ads on the site have become a real problem. Some of the ads look like they are from legitimate businesses such as Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. They make the post look very real, using lots of pictures. The Better Business Bureau says the fake ads are common and they get thousands of complaints each year. “Impersonation is one of the key factors of what scammers love to do,” Sarah Wetzel of the BBB said. “They love to impersonate those well-known companies because that way they already have a foot in the door with the consumers.”

Source: Digital Information World

2. Rental Scams: Scammers ( who operate anywhere in the world ) can advertise a fake rental online. Next, they add a sense of urgency to attempt to get a deposit on the property. They will use excuses as to why they can not meet you in person. They also make sure to tell you that several people are looking at the property. Nationally, over 230 rental scams have been reported this year, up from the same time last year. Victims report losing an average of $550.

Better Business Bureau offers these tips:

Do an online search for the landlord’s email and phone number. If the same ad is listed in other cities, that’s a red flag.
If you can’t see the property in person, try to find someone you trust to go and confirm the unit is what’s being advertised online.
Don’t fall for deals that are too good to be true. If a unit is well below market rate or promising extra amenities than normal, it could be a red flag.
Be wary of required payments through cash transfer apps. Peer to peer apps are meant to be used with people you know.

Use the Better Business Bureau’s scam tracker as a tool to both report and prevent scam.

3. Catfishing: When someone creates a fake identity online for the purpose of starting a relationship. They then use this as a way to gain interest and confidence so they can scam the person out of money. Social Catfish is a software company that works to help people who believe they have been the victim of catfishing. It is one of the many software platforms we use at eChatter when conducting online research. They also have a great reverse image tool within the platform.

Impersonation of a Business

This is sometimes called Domain Spoofing. When done correctly, it can damage a business’ reputation while scamming consumers who fall for their pitch. All while impersonating the business. Two of the most common ways is cybersquatting and typosquatting.

Cybersquatting: Scammers use already established business websites and copy them to look just like the real website. They then sell counterfeit products.
Typosquatting: Scammers register a domain name similar to that of the legitimate business. They purposely use typo errors to change it but at first glance, people take it as the legitimate company’s website. This is sometimes used to redirect someone to a competitor’s website or try to collect ad revenue.

This just scratches the surface of the many ways scammers use the web and social media. It is a subject we will continue to write about in the future, so check back often for updates.

How to Clean Up your Digital Footprint

We live in a world where we feel the need to share everything…pictures, job status, when and where we are going on vacation, where we ate dinner…and the list goes on and on. So much of our personal information is available to the public, and that’s not a good thing. Between Facebook and Google’s data collection policies and the rise in identity theft, now would be a great time to clean up your digital footprint. You’re probably saying to yourself, “I use strong and unique passwords. I mark sketchy emails as spam. I lookout for phishing emails. I’ve got Cybersecurity 101 down pat.” But with new threats popping up all the time, there are more in depth steps you can take to protect yourself. And the most important one of all: Clean up your digital footprint.

Most people have old email accounts floating around, forgotten flash drives in a drawer, and years of downloads taking up space on a computer. Believe it or not, holding on to accounts and files that you don’t want any more needlessly exposes you to all sorts of risks. Your devices can be lost or stolen (or hacked), and big companies can suffer data breaches that incidentally expose your information. So the less there is out there, the better off you are. “The physical presence of data is so small that sometimes we don’t think about it as being clutter,” says Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. “But we accumulate massive amounts of it, and some of it can be harmful if it gets lost or stolen.”

Here are some tips from experts on how to clean up your online data and improve your privacy:

1. Delete or Deactivate your Online Accounts

Think about all the shopping, entertainment and social media websites that you’ve registered an account on. Big ones like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are easy to remember (or they instantly log you in with a saved password), but the chances are that you won’t be able to remember every single account you’ve ever created. To delete most accounts, go to your account settings and look for an option to deactivate, cancel or remove your account. Most of the time it won’t be easy to find because they don’t want you to leave. They may even offer you an incentive to remain a member.

2. Cancel those App Accounts

Now that you’ve deleted your online accounts, time to delete your app accounts. Look for apps on your phone and tablet, streaming devices, gaming consoles, and computer that you don’t use anymore and shut them down. Do you still have an account with a messaging app you used once two years ago? Why is that calorie-counting app from 2014 still on your phone? Cancel and delete. That type of exposure is an unnecessary risk. But just because you deleted if off your phone, doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. Make sure you clean out and close your account with the app developer so it retains the smallest amount of data possible about you. Closing an account doesn’t mean that a company deletes all your data or eliminates the basic things it knows about you, but it keeps the account from staying active and potentially continuing to collect data.

3. Email Accounts

The most important account to consider is your email, the central data hub of your online life. Your email account is a valuable prize for a hacker, because it contains information about tons of other people (friends, family members, coworkers) in addition to yourself. Deleting emails you no longer need and exporting old emails you still want to the cloud or a hard drive is a smart way to reduce what would be compromised if your email was ever hacked. Virtually all email services offer ways to export your messages and other account data so you hold it locally and can delete it from the company’s servers. And don’t forget to delete old email accounts that you no longer use.

4. Destroy Old Devices

First, let’s address the physical devices. Destroy old CDs, flash drives, and external hard drives you don’t need anymore. Also consider old PCs, gaming consoles, and smart home gadgets…just make sure you back up anything you want from those devices before wiping them. Next, sort through your computer desktop and clean out your documents folder. Eliminating old PDFs of credit card statements or medical forms that you no longer need will go a long way toward keeping you safer.

We’re not telling you to part with data that is personally meaningful or useful, the goal is to pare down what you have so if your data is ever compromised, hackers aren’t able to easily access names, birthdays, and Social Security numbers. “When we talk about security, we often talk about protecting our own things,” Kaiser says. “But in reality, in the digital world we actually do sit on large amounts of information about other people, and that’s something to consider with decluttering and storing data more securely.”

5. Survey the Scene

Take a step back and try to think of anything you might be forgetting. Most email systems have search features allowing you to comb through your old messages. You can bulk-delete everything from before a certain date or everything from a particular contact. You should also regularly search your email for the last four digits of your Social Security number and delete any messages it appears in. “Think of the information you have saved,” the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team notes. “Is there banking or credit card account information? Tax returns? Passwords? Medical or other personal data? Personal photos? Sensitive corporate information? Depending on what kind of information an attacker can find, he or she may be able to use it maliciously.”

Privacy Tips

Now that you’ve cleaned up your online data, here are a few tips to help maximize your privacy in the future:

Instead of WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, consider using an encrypted open-source messenger app such as Signal or Telegram.
Delete unnecessary accounts and think carefully about making new ones
Use encrypted email services like Protonmail and Disroot instead of Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft email
Ideally, use Mozilla Firefox or Brave as your web browser instead of Chrome
Use privacy add-ons with your browser including HTTPS Everywhere, Self Destructing Cookies, Ghostery and Privacy Badger
Don’t use simple passwords and never use the same password for every website

How to Protect your Company’s  Online Reputation

Customers are talking about your brand. Through avenues such as social media, online review sites, blog comments, and community forums, your brand has made an impression…and it’s up to you whether that impression is a positive or negative one.

Because of the plethora of social media choices in play, it can be very difficult to monitor the conversations and truly know what’s being said about your brand every minute of the day. Because of this, more companies are investing in online reputation management (ORM).

ORM is the act of monitoring and engaging in activities to understand and improve the overall public impression a company has online. In other words, it’s public relations for the internet.

It’s best to stay abreast of what’s being said about your brand, otherwise you will be playing a game of clean up. When it comes to your business’s online reputation, the “fix it later” approach can result in disaster. Hersh Davis-Nitzberg, founder and CEO of crisis management firm Reputation Control Inc., says that entrepreneurs need to be proactive about managing their online reputation before irreversible damage is done. Here are four steps he recommends you take to protect and improve your business.

1) Be Present…Especially where your Customers are

The number one danger to ORM is when companies are not present where their customers are interacting. Social media is only one avenue where your customers are talking about you online. Your customers are not only tweeting or posting on Instagram about you, but they are also gaining support praising or pummeling you on community forums, or the comment section of review sites.

Unfortunately, on most of these forums, the customer inquiries, concerns, or complaints go unseen and unanswered by a representative of the business. Instead, the forums become support groups for customers as other users share similar questions or poor experiences that they have encountered with in your brand. You definitely do not want this to become a free-for-all bashing your brand.

2) Responding to Negative Content

In most cases, online forums, communities, or review sites allow companies to respond to feedback. When your company or brand receives negative feedback, ideally you should respond as an affirmation. Try not to become defensive or downplay the customer’s experience. The first step is to apologize for the experience and take the conversation offline.

Many review sites and service communities rank high on search engine optimization (SEO). If a company is mentioned negatively on these sites, the best plan of action is to give a short response recognizing the issue, apologizing, then taking the conversation offline. Invite the user to send a direct message or an email. If a company chooses to go back and forth with a consumer, each time the page re-publishes with additional content about the company, search engines will push the content. In turn, the ranking of this negative review can improve.

3) Pushing Positive Content

A key aspect of managing a brand’s online reputation is to create positive content that will rank well in search engine result pages. By constantly pushing out new, credible content you can increase awareness online and build up your brand’s reputation. Quality content could include customer testimonials, related articles, product reviews, press releases, or banner ads on relevant pages that link to your company website.

4) It’s Easier to Build a Good Reputation than Fix a Bad One

Hersh Davis-Nitzberg explains, “It’s easy to ignore your online reputation when everything is going well. But when a crisis strikes, suddenly the information about you on the internet can determine how the media, clients, and even your personal relationships will react. Be on top of your digital footprint before a crisis happens. If you lack an online presence or have a negative reputation, a crisis situation can become a top story. But, if you have established an authentic, positive, and robust reputation, the same event can be a blip on the radar. If something happens, take a step back and look at the big picture. There may not necessarily be a quick fix, but with a solid strategy, you can repair your brand. The biggest mistake you can make in a crisis is to respond without thinking. Quick reactions can turn a minor crisis into a disaster.”

#MeToo Allegations on the Rise in Corporate USA

“People are recognizing the impact — and this is the #MeToo movement — of harassment on people, and how it can impact their careers for years.”
Victoria Lipnic, acting chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

According to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) the data shows a sharp increase in sexual harassment cases in 2018 by as much as 12%.

Based on preliminary data, in FY 2018:

The EEOC filed 66 harassment lawsuits, including 41 that included allegations of sexual harassment. That reflects more than a 50 percent increase in suits challenging sexual harassment over fiscal year 2017.
In addition, charges filed with the EEOC alleging sexual harassment increased by more than 12 percent from fiscal year 2017.
Overall, the EEOC recovered nearly $70 million for the victims of sexual harassment through litigation and administrative enforcement in FY 2018, up from $47.5 million in FY 2017.

More and more companies are being advised to begin a reputation management program within their organization to precede potential threats to their executives and employees.

When Is It Illegal to Fire an Employee over Social Media Posts?

Here are some examples of when an employee’s social media posts should not result in firing, even if it may seem warranted otherwise:

When the post is protected in some way. The most prominent example that some employers overlook or get wrong: Employees should not be fired when their social media post could be considered “concerted activity” and could, therefore, be protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Concerted activity includes discussing working environment among coworkers—even in a negative way in public. Employers can get into trouble when they’re too restrictive in their social media policies—over broad restrictions or repercussions can go against an employee’s NLRA rights.

When there are specific rules that must be followed before a termination (and those are not followed). For example, there may be contractual stipulations with the employee’s union that outline steps that must be taken before any termination. If those steps aren’t followed, the termination may be illegal—even if it would have been fine otherwise.

When the social media post represents some other protected activity, like whistle-blowing, or protected reporting of something else, such as discrimination or harassment.

When the employer/employee are in a state that has other protections. Some states do not allow employers to fire employees for conduct outside of work, as long as the activities themselves are legal. This means that it would be much more difficult for an employer in one of these places to fire someone for conduct it finds distasteful that is still nonetheless legal. Some places also have protections in place for political speech.

*Source: HR Daily Advisor

There is no better time than right now to begin a corporate monitoring program and to be very aware of what is being said about your company and your employees online. A PR social media nightmare can happen in a millisecond and repercussions can last for years.

Online Reputation Management

It’s not just about resumes anymore…

When applying to college and potential jobs, experts now advise you take it a step further. Creating or updating a LinkedIn profile as well as examining your social media pages can save your reputation and make sure you are putting our best foot forward. It’s good practice to check a few times a year, and remove potentially embarrassing or damaging information. Removing information from the web doesn’t mean it’s gone forever — you should be ready to account for it — but at least you are taking control of the profile that everyone will see. You are updating your online persona to reflect who you are today.

Ann Yates, principal with the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, explains, “In my work as a search consultant, there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t speak with candidates for administrative jobs about a personal or career misstep they’ve made and how to handle it in the hiring process. Because so much information is available about job candidates today, search committees must think carefully about how it influences their decisions.”

“They are going to click on your profile,” says Alan Katzman, the chief executive of Social Assurity, a company that offers courses for high school students on how to shape their online images. Last year, Mr. Katzman’s company advised a high school senior in the Washington area to create a detailed LinkedIn profile and include a link on his application to Harvard. Soon after, LinkedIn notified the student that someone from Harvard had checked out his profile. Mr. Katzman says that high school students who use social media to showcase themselves may gain an edge with colleges. “No one has quantified the power of this,” Mr. Katzman told me recently. “But I maintain that it is very powerful.”

Vicky Rideout, a researcher who studies how teenagers use technology, says “Using LinkedIn on college applications, she says, “is yet another way for there to be a disparity between the haves and the have-nots.” A recent study from Kaplan Test Prep of about 400 college admissions officers reported that 40% said they had visited applicants’ social media pages, a fourfold increase since 2008.

Some high school students are establishing LinkedIn profiles to give the colleges that do look something they would like them to find. Students who naturally tailor posts for their peers on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook told me they used the professional network as a separate space to market their accomplishments to adults.

“I did not make a LinkedIn profile for my friends,” says Matthew Martratt, a 17-year-old high school senior in Marietta, Ga., who is an Eagle Scout and a member of his school’s marching band and organizes community service projects. “I made it to show people who don’t know who I am what I am about.”

Mr. Martratt, who took a LinkedIn course from Social Assurity, said he followed colleges to which he intended to apply on LinkedIn and Twitter and posted about them. “It’s like sending them an invitation to look at my profile,” he said. “When I get likes or notifications back, it shows that they are looking.”

LinkedIn has proven it’s the place to find and be found. The site has well over a million and a half student jobs and internships. And more than 9 in 10 companies use LinkedIn to recruit new hires.

Want to make your profile stand out?

Follow these top tips:

1) Upload an appropriate photo. Profiles with photos get 14x more views.

2) Write an informative but catchy profile headline.

This is a short, memorable professional slogan. It’s the one thing you want a recruiter, hiring manager, or future co-worker to know about you.

3) Make good use of the Summary statement.

Think of the Summary like the first few paragraphs of your best-written cover letter: Concise about your experience, qualifications, and goals. Describe what motivates you, what you’ve done and are skilled at, and what makes you unique. Be clear and confident!

4) Be smart about your experience.

List the jobs you’ve held and a brief description of what you were responsible for and what you accomplished. This section can be more or less detailed than your resume. What really matters is that you’re not leaving out critical details about your work history.

And don’t forget your volunteer activities. 20% of hiring managers in the U.S. say they’ve hired someone because of volunteer experience. It’s also a good profile addition because it reveals your passions and rounds you out as a human being.

5) Show your work.

You can now add real examples of your writing, analysis, design portfolios, or other work directly on your profile. Upload or link to rich media, documents, or presentations. This helps make your profile more visual and interesting, while demonstrating your value as an up-and-coming professional.