Criminals, such as scammers and hackers, are more frequently using social media to gain personal information.

While this has been an issue for quite a while, according to Crime Stoppers, attempts to gain personal information and the frequency of online scams have increased since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, largely due to people spending more time online.

It has had a massive impact, with Scamwatch recently reporting that Australians lost $850 million to scams in 2020.

Social media posts on Facebook and Instagram asking questions such as, 'what was your first job?', 'what is your mother's maiden name?' or 'what was your first pet's name?' are often fishing exercises for criminals.

While answering these posts may seem like a bit of fun, it puts individuals at risk of being a victim of a scam or being hacked - having bank accounts drained, being a victim of identity theft or having someone use accounts to make hundreds of dollars worth of purchases.

The answers can provide criminals with the information they require to either guess passwords or answer password hints to gain access to accounts, including bank accounts.

It can also allow them to profile people who participate as 'trusting' so they may be targeted by hackers or scammers in future.

Crime Stoppers recommends implementing two-factor authentication to protect accounts and prevent criminals gaining access.

While it can be activated for every account that allows it, passwords can also be changed regularly - the longer, the better.

Crime Stoppers Chief Executive, Stella Smith, said tracking down these criminals was not always possible.

"So it is really important for people to take measures to protect themselves," she said.

Our team of local journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the Ballarat community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: