Six months ago I had just sent one of my biggest business proposals ever. I had been working on this deal for about 6 months. Nurturing, providing value and establishing a relationship. It was the final stretch and I was ready for the next step in my career!

The client was running a plastic surgery operation in Hong Kong. The CEO of the business had connected with me through LinkedIn. We started talking like with any other connection... She had some recently shared posts and pictures of the fancy-looking office. But... After spending multiple hours on this potential customer I realised... I'd been blinded by my eagerness to win the biggest deal of my life and couldn't see through the obvious...

I was talking to a fake profile. Probably some sort of scam that wanted to trick me into sending money or something. At first, I was furious!

"How could someone waste my precious time like that!"

But then my anger turned into shame...

"How could I be so blind to fall for this"

But in the end, it was a learning experience. Unfortunately, I'm not the only victim. The internet is full of trolls and catfish profiles. People looking to take advantage of the lack of security modern social media provides. So how do we keep ourselves safe from this problem?

‍3 Things You Can Do To Protect Yourself From Trolls And Catfish...‍

1. The easiest and the best thing you can do of course... Share our mission here at Dailymap to make it a reality. That way you'll be safe without having to do any of the below. But until it's a reality, here's what you want to do...

2. Be silent to the trolls! People that are going around the internet "trolling" want one thing... To piss people off. The moment you give them what they want, they win.

3. When engaging with a new profile... Check out their profile page first. How long have they had an account? Recently created accounts are a red flag. Have they engaged with other people's content and if so how? Generic and low numbers of engagement are also red flags.

Unfortunately, there is not much else you can do. Social media today is built to have as many users as possible.And I think the word "users" says it all... They're not looking for people. They're looking for users. With that way of thinking there is no escaping this problem. The only long-term solution... Create an app with people's well-being and safety at the core. Make Dailymap A Reality, Share The Cause!