What You Should Never Share With Strangers Online

Nobody asks a stranger for their address. They ask which country you're in, then which city, then which part, then where you work — four friendly questions, not one of them alarming, that between them produce a person who can be found. No single answer is the problem. The accumulation is.

So: a short list. The reasoning matters more than the items, because you'll meet versions of these that aren't on it.

Never

Your surname

Top of the list by some distance. A first name is one of millions. A first name plus a surname is a searchable person, and from there most people's employer, city and photographs are one search away. No conversation has ever gone better because somebody gave their full name.

Your address, street or neighbourhood

Country is conversation. City is usually fine. Beyond that you're handing details to somebody you met four minutes ago — and it will come up naturally, which is exactly what makes it easy to answer without thinking.

Where you work or study

An employer plus a first name is often enough to find you outright, and nearly always enough to find your colleagues. This one catches people out because "what do you do?" is such a normal question. Answer the job, not the organisation.

Anything financial

Bank details, card numbers, payment app handles, crypto wallets — and whether you have money at all. That last one matters far more than it looks. It's the qualifying question for every long-form scam there is.

Passwords or verification codes

Nobody legitimate ever needs these, us included. If a code arrives on your phone while somebody on a video chat is asking you to read it out, that's an account takeover happening in real time.

Images you would not want forwarded

Once something leaves your device you have no control over it at all. That's the whole mechanism behind the recording-threat scam, and it keeps working because people believe there's an exception for someone who seemed nice.

Be Careful With

Other accounts

An Instagram handle is a photo album, a friend list, a location history and often a surname. Handing it over in a first conversation is a much bigger move than it feels like. And a conversation that's in a hurry to leave the platform is in a hurry to leave the reporting tools behind.

Your daily routine

When you leave for work, when you're home alone, when you're away. Any one of those is small talk. All three is a schedule.

Your exact age and birthday

A birthday is a verification answer on a surprising number of services. Roughly how old you are is conversation. The date isn't.

Anything visible behind you

You're not only sharing what you say. Post, packaging, a company logo, a university sweatshirt, a recognisable view — all of it readable on video, and none of it something people think about until afterwards.

What Is Fine to Share

Almost everything else, and that's worth saying out loud. Your first name, your country, what you do for a living, what you're watching, what you think about anything at all.

The list above is short on purpose. Being guarded about six specific things is much easier than being guarded in general, and it leaves the rest of the conversation free to be relaxed — which is the only way any of this is enjoyable.

If You Have Already Shared Something

Don't panic, and don't stay in the conversation trying to manage it. Leave, block, report if it warranted it. If it was an account, change the password and turn on two-factor. If it was a payment detail, call your bank. And if somebody's threatening you with something, pay them nothing and go to your local police — it's a crime in most places and it's one they've seen many times.

The wider version is in random video chat safety tips, and what the platform itself can and cannot do is set out in the Safety Center.