A Free Public Service

SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is an inactive attorney in San Mateo County, California.

January 13, 2023

ONLINE QUIZ SCAMS

Attribution: US Federal Trade Commission

What do the model of your first car, your favorite hobby, and the high school you attended have in common? If you said they’re questions commonly used for online account security and online quizzes, you’re correct. Before you take a quiz, ask yourself: Do I know who’s gathering this information about me — or what they plan to do with it?

 Scammers phish for answers to security question data through quizzes. They use your quiz answers to try to reset your accounts, or steal your bank and other account information.

Personality tests, quick surveys, and other types of online quizzes ask seemingly harmless questions, but the more information you share, the more you risk it being misused. Scammers could do a lot of damage with just a few answers that give away your personal information.

One major way to protect your personal information — in addition to maintaining strong passwords and using multi-factor authentication — is to steer clear of online quizzes…or just don’t answer them truthfully.

If you suspect that an online quiz is a phishing scam, tell a friend. Then, report it

to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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