If your job is to influence others, you might get distracted by brand deals or the number of followers you have and realize your weaknesses.
Los Angeles social media influencers earn money by sharing their lives online, but they can also become targets for theft and other unwanted crimes.
As influencers share their closets of designer clothes and “OOTD” looks with thousands, sometimes millions, of followers, it's easier than ever for thieves to track down home addresses and personal assets.
“If you look at what's happened, you can see what's evolved over the last few years. There are a lot of things that have changed the landscape,” Michael Balboni, a cybersecurity expert and former Department of Homeland Security official, told Fox News Digital. “The technology has evolved. Now we have spear phishing, where they target individuals with personal information that's been harvested from the internet.”
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Kim Kardashian was the target of a burglary in Paris in 2016. (Jason Howard/Bauer Griffin/GC Images)
Joey Zauzig, a reality TV personality who appears on MTV's “Real Friends of WeHo” and has more than 500,000 followers on Instagram, was at home with his fiancé on April 8 when burglars broke into their house, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“My content is very positive and uplifting, so you wouldn't think that people would try to tear you down, but when thousands of people are looking at your life and your content, I think some people will try to target you,” Zauzig said. Los Angeles Times. “They were clearly targeting me.”
Television personality Joey Zauzig attends the Warner Music Group Grammy Awards Pre-Party at the Citizen News in Los Angeles on February 1, 2024. His home was broken into in April. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi told the Police Commission this summer that the number of reported property crimes in the city increased by 4% in 2024. KTLA reported.
“The line between cybersecurity and physical security is becoming increasingly blurred,” Clarissa Lopez, senior associate at Prescient, a global risk management and information services company, said in an online report. Blog Post Last month, it said: “Influencers constantly share their daily lives online, exposing their behaviour and everyday surroundings to tens of thousands of people who become aware of these personal details.”
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Celebrity theft is not a new phenomenon, but it has taken on new forms in the age of social media. The so-called “Bling Ring” made headlines over a decade ago when they broke into and robbed the homes of celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Orlando Bloom. The ring used sources like TMZ to track the celebrities' whereabouts.
Other celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande, have also reported break-ins in the past.
Ariana Grande was stalked and her brother was robbed in New York in 2022. (Getty Images)
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The direct exposure of celebrities and influencers puts them at risk of more serious crimes.
Rapper Pop Smoke was murdered after posting a photo online of a designer bag that accidentally revealed the address of the rental home where he was staying.
TikTok culture has become increasingly popular and pervasive in American society, with content creators and social media influencers like Deja Fox and Jon Russell speaking on the same stage as the US president at the Democratic National Convention last week. NPR reported.
As their fame grows, many eyes are following them and, depending on what they share online, anyone with a smartphone can track even the most insignificant details of their lives.
Content creator John Russell speaks on the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (Jasper Colt – USA Today)
One solution? Balboni said influencers should hire “digital bodyguards.”
“Security experts — people who scrape personal information from content before it's posted,” he explained. “These are people who really understand that social media can be weaponized.”
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While influencer security is already a concern, Balboni believes there's one factor that could further mask criminal activity online: artificial intelligence.
“You're going to have people who sound, look, and act just like your best friend, but who are not your best friend,” he said. “That's going to be a whole different world of risk not just to your data, your reputation, but unfortunately in some cases, your safety.”
