Americans share personal info in risky ways

The majority of US consumers freely admit to sharing personal details online that put them at risk. That's the not-so-surprising finding of a new national survey from Visa.

The results showed that more than 58 percent of consumers surveyed admitted to sharing personal details over social media that could put them at risk for fraud and identity theft. Close to half of respondents shared their birthdate; 29 percent posted their phone number; and 14 percent shared their mother's maiden name. Some 20 percent of respondents provided their home address on social media; 15 percent posted their upcoming travel dates; and 7 percent even posted their social security number over social media. This is type of personal data, of course, is regularly harvested and put to use in a wide variety of identity theft scams. So posting it on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or LinkedIn is like stocking candy on the shelf for cybercriminals.