Trump announces president’s return to fitness test
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to regain the president’s fitness test at a school that has been joined by several professional athletes in the White House.
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- Sharing too many details about your child on social media can cause trouble.
- It’s time for kids to talk about whether they should be careful of fake texts too.
Every year I loved seeing the first day of school photos with Nie’s son and daughter standing on pouches, each holding a whiteboard or blackboard with both hands. They become taller and stupid in the moment.
This year, the photos marked the first day of Penny’s eighth graders and the first day of Carson’s 11th graders, who lives near the southeast coastline. Both wear huge OK-OK-IS-You-Mom smiles.
Still, now I’ve heard more warnings for parents about ID theft and taking popular, returning to school key cakes.
The Better Business Bureau tells parents to avoid with those chalkboards so that personal details about their children, such as their name, age, school, teacher, grade, etc., don’t scrawl too many personal details about them.
problem? Scammers can dig into more information about social media and use many of these details to try and commit identity theft or try to hack into one of their accounts.
“If you use your child’s personal information with a password, this also makes you vulnerable to security breaches. Needless to say, these details are also used as security questions for banks and credit card accounts.”
Another tip: Do not use family names or dog names for your password.
When it comes to taking photos, it suggests that the BBB is aiming for a more general background for back-to-school photography. You may stand in front of a large tree, not where you can see your home’s address.
Here are some other tips from the BBB:
- Make sure school signs, bus stops or other landmarks do not appear in photos that may reveal the location of your child.
- Recheck your privacy settings.
- Be aware who can see your post. Delete personal information from accounts that others can see, such as phone numbers and addresses.
- Do not accept friend requests from strangers. Also, think carefully before accepting friend requests from people you already have. It could be a scammer trying to access your information or your friends list.
- Do not use the password to name your child or personally identifiable information, or the same password for multiple accounts.
Nakia Mills, vice president of digital marketing and brand strategy for Michigan’s Better Business Department, told the Detroit Free Press (part of the USA Today network) that many people often overshare social media personal information without considering potential outcomes.
“While sharing photos of children online isn’t necessarily harmful, it’s important to note that we don’t share sensitive information or details that could put your child’s safety at risk,” Mills said.
If you want your child to hold a sign, she should not include the child’s name, school name, age, or teacher’s name.
Sadly, you can unconsciously hand over the information to a stranger who can help a bad actor find your child, find your password, or try to steal identity theft.
Or, in some cases, warning experts, these details could even be used to try and steal thousands of dollars from seniors by mistakenly claiming that their grandchild needs emergency assistance.
“Even if your account is set to only show information to your connections and friends, people often take screenshots and save images on their devices, which can lead to the wrong hand in the post,” warned Mills.
Thoughtful about how to use the location sharing feature
We are hearing alerts on Instagram about the newly implemented location sharing feature.
In August, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a bipartisan coalition of 37 lawyer generals, urging Instagram to immediately change this new feature, the Instagram map, based on public safety and data privacy concerns, especially for children and domestic violence survivors.
“Meta has a responsibility to protect users, especially children, from online predators,” Nessel said in a statement. She said the feature could undermine safety and “can have devastating consequences.”
The letter not only guarantees on Instagram that minors cannot enable the location sharing feature, but also provides “simple and accessible controls to disable location sharing at any time” to adults who choose the feature.
The Instagram parent meta has already maintained that there is a lot of protection in place.
“The design of Instagram Map already addresses the issue of attorney general promoting. By default, it’s off. Everyone gets a notification explaining what the feature entails and can turn it off whenever they want,” according to a statement sent to the Detroit Free Press.
With parental oversight capabilities, the company says that if teens start sharing locations via map tools, and parents can block access to location sharing at any time, the parents will receive notifications.
Meta also points out that Instagram teenage accounts have built-in protections that restrict teenagers and those who can contact the content they see. Teens will be automatically placed in teen accounts, and the company says online that “teens under the age of 16 need parental permission to change any of these settings to be non-strict.”
Instagram will also send notifications to parents on Instagram, along with information on how they can have conversations with children ages 13 to 17, about the importance of providing the correct age online. In late April, Instagram began testing AI technology in the US, designed to “proactively find accounts belonging to teens,” whether they list adult birthdays, or teen birthdays and place them in teen account settings.
Ok, I’m old school and I can’t imagine why I’m being broadcast at a certain moment.
Again, I don’t imagine using social media to trigger a spontaneous hug with long lost friends as I wander around a large box store. Some consumers who attend concerts, baseball games, or hit trending hot spots may see things differently.
However, parents need to remain vigilant when it comes to what they post on social media and how they monitor what their children are doing. Thankfully, regulators have also made a statement.
Teach young students about scammers using fake texts
And there are other ways to connect with scammers you probably don’t consider. Scammers are also texting our kids.
Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about fake texts that may be impersonating someone from a school, bank, or famous retailer or business.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning in early 2025 to encourage parents to tell their children about the risks associated with responding to fake texts.
Scammers want the same things from younger consumers, just like adults. They are trying to get Social Security numbers, bank account information, and more.
The advice is the same. Do not click on the link with unexpected text messages. Don’t forget that many people aren’t the ones who say they’re online.
A FTC note that clicks on a link can lead to a website that attempts to steal data. Sharing your personal and financial information can lead to greater issues, such as identity theft, loss of money, and ensuring fraudsters have access to your account.
Another tip: Beware of fake emails and texts about failed login attempts.
Scammers know that many of us respond to emails and texts that contain text that appears to be the wrong number. However, the best advice to ignore these texts remains.
Experts say they are making sure their phone number is live when replying to the scammer, even if they tell someone that has the wrong number.
Please contact Personal Finance Columnist Susan Tom Paul: stompor@freepress.com. Follow himr x @tompor.
