Social Media Privacy Settings for Seniors — A Simple Setup Guide
If your Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp profile is public, scammers can see your name, photos, family members, location, and birthday. They use this information to craft convincing scams targeted specifically at you. This guide walks you through locking down your social media privacy settings in plain language, with screenshots for each platform.
Think this email is a scam?
Forward it to us and get a free risk assessment in under 60 seconds.
Why Privacy Settings Matter
Public Profiles Give Scammers Everything They Need
If your social media profiles are public, scammers can see your name, photos, family members, location, and birthday — everything they need to craft a convincing, personalized scam targeting you.
Note: This guide covers online safety, not email specifically. If you received a suspicious email, forward it to check@scam.support for a free risk assessment. For all scams, report to your country's fraud agency — see all reporting agencies.
Scammers use publicly available social media information to personalize their attacks. If they can see your grandchildren's names, they can impersonate them. If they can see your birthday, they can answer security questions. If they can see your photos, they can clone your profile. Locking down your privacy settings is one of the most effective steps you can take.
Facebook Privacy Settings
1. Set Your Profile to Friends Only
- Open Facebook and tap the three lines (menu)
- Tap Settings & Privacy > Settings
- Tap Privacy (under Audience and Visibility)
- Set "Who can see your future posts?" to Friends
- Use "Limit Past Posts" to change all old posts to Friends Only
2. Hide Your Friends List
- Go to your profile
- Tap Friends
- Tap the three dots and select Edit Privacy
- Set "Who can see your friends list?" to Only me
3. Control Who Can Find You
- In Settings > Privacy
- Set "Who can look you up using your phone number?" to Friends or Only me
- Set "Who can look you up using your email?" to Friends or Only me
- Set "Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?" to No
Instagram Privacy Settings
1. Make Your Account Private
- Open Instagram and go to your Profile
- Tap the three lines (menu)
- Tap Settings and privacy
- Under Account Privacy, toggle on Private Account
2. Control Who Can Message You
- In Settings and privacy
- Tap Messages and story replies
- Restrict who can send you message requests
WhatsApp Privacy Settings
1. Limit Who Can See Your Info
- Open WhatsApp > Settings
- Tap Privacy
- Set "Last Seen" to My Contacts
- Set "Profile Photo" to My Contacts
- Set "About" to My Contacts
2. Restrict Group Additions
- In Privacy
- Tap Groups
- Select My Contacts — this prevents strangers from adding you to group chats (used in investment scams)
General Tips
What To Do
- Set all social media profiles to Friends Only or Private
- Hide your friends list so scammers cannot identify family members
- Remove your phone number and birthday from public view
- Do not accept friend requests from people you do not know in person
- Restrict who can add you to groups on WhatsApp and Facebook
Report Social Media Scams
Sources
- Facebook Help Center — Privacy settings — Privacy settings documentation
- Instagram Help Center — Account privacy settings — Account privacy settings
- WhatsApp Help Center — How to change your privacy settings — Privacy settings
- FTC Consumer Advice — Scams that start on social media — Social media and privacy