ORLANDO, Fla. – More and more, Facebook users are seeing their friends use their profiles to collect donations for a charity of their choice as a way to celebrate their birthday, but is it safe?
According to officials from the social media giant, users have raised more than $300 million for the causes they care about using birthday fundraisers.
In order to donate, a user must enter their credit card information but with growing concerns about privacy, not everyone feels comfortable submitting personal financial information.
News 6 took that concern to security expert Chris Hadnagy. He said he hasn't found anything to indicate Facebook's merchant account is flawed or insecure, but warns any form of online payments puts you at risk, since your data is being stored by a third party.
So ultimately, what can you do to protect yourself?
Here are some tips Hadnagy suggested:
1. Stay vigilant and research the fundraiser you're contributing to. Make sure it's real.
2. Watch your credit, and if you see anything strange, call your bank.
3. Don't use an ATM card, use a credit card.
4. Don't click on links in emails.
5. Be aware of the latest Facebook scams.
In October, almost 30 million Facebook users' phone numbers and email addresses were accessed by hackers in the biggest security breach in the company's history.
In December, it was announced that a bug may have affected 6.8 million people who used a Facebook login and gave permission to third-party applications to have access to their pictures. Facebook has since fixed the bug, but reportedly said some apps may have had access to more pictures than usual.
"The biggest security issue is the amount of information people put on the platform thinking they are secure. But also the fact that Facebook now owns that data and has seemingly done what they want with it," said Hadnagy.
Facebook officials offered insight on what is done with users' credit card information.
"This is really important to us and we take numerous precautions to prevent any kind of unauthorized access to the financial information stored on people’s Facebook account. Also, this information is kept on a secure server and won't be shared with the recipient of people’s donation," Facebook consumer communications manager Eric Porterfield said.
He also said Facebook has a list of the processes it uses to keep everything secure. You can find that by clicking here.
The webpage says Facebook secures user information and it has anti-fraud specialists, and staff members available to help when needed.
At the end of the day, if you feel uncomfortable submitting a donation through Facebook, another option could be to go to that organization's official website.