Tips

If you are on Twitter chances are you know about Twitter Verification – the official blue verified tick badge given to highly sought celebrities and public figures, or those at risk of impersonation, to establish authenticity of identities.

While many people long to see the blue check beside their profile, and some resort to fake verification, there are a couple of easy ways to verify your Twitter account as your own.

 Every day we see more and more people looking to get verified on Twitter.

Guest blogger David Bakke is a finance and technology contributor for Money Crashers, listed as one of the top personal finance blogs.

Unfortunately fake Twitter accounts pop up every day. Impostors, scammers and spammers crop up all the time in social networks, and some are harder to spot than others.

People in the public eye, like celebrities and public figures with large followings, are particularly susceptible.

Stay informed with ActionFraud.org, a service of the National Fraud Authority and the UK’s leading public resource for identity theft updates, prevention tips and recovery assistance. Keeping up-to-date can mean the difference between protecting your identity and finances or becoming an identity thief’s next victim.

Use a card protection service to protect your identity and guard against fraud.

You'll have just one place to call if one of your bank accounts or credit cards is compromised. Store their number in your phone, and on the fridge so it’s always close to hand.

Over the next few weeks will be posting some tips to help you protect your identity. Look out for these tips on Twitter and our Facebook page.

Online dating sites are a great place to meet people but unfortunately they are being targeted by criminal gangs, not with romance but with fraud on their mind.

Love is in the air. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we want to make sure you are keeping your details safe to avoid dating site fraud. Tip nine is all about guarding your address.

Fake dating profiles set up by scammers to commit financial fraud are a hazard of online dating. Last year we learned over 200,000 people in the UK were victims of online dating fraud, and in the news this week around 1600 Australians lost more than $17 (AUD) million through online dating sites in 2011.

Dating fraud is taking the romance out of online dating. Check out our tips to spot the fraudsters so you can still have fun online dating. Tip eight is all about password protection.