Surry Investigations

1. Your address: This the easiest way for an online predator to find you. Never, ever put your street address in a public profile: it makes you an easy target for a predator.

2. Your home phone number: I've never understood posting your personal phone number for the world to see. Not only will you start getting phone calls from telemarketers at all hours of the day, but it is another easy way for an online predator to find your location. Most home phone numbers in North America can be reverse-traced with a simple search on a website such as Google.com. From there, your street address is just a click away.

3. Your full name: For somebody like John Smith, there's enough similar names in the world that the individual would be hard to find. For the majority of us, this is another way that predators can track you online. Used in combination with seemingly innocuous information on your profile, your name can be used in web searches to determine your school or workplace. Once you’re traced to your hometown, it’s not hard to determine your exact location.

4. Including pictures of yourself on a social networking site may seem okay at first, but they make you easy to identify in person. If a predator has traced you to your hometown, it wouldn’t be hard to find you using your picture as a guide.

5. While your daily schedule may seem to be harmless, it actually allows a predator to find you when you are alone. Including your daily schedule may not give away your location, but used in combination with other information, it can prove to be the difference between being attacked and staying safe.