‘Digital bodyguards’ can help combat criminals targeting victims through social media: expert

When it is your job to influence others, you may be preoccupied with brand deals and the number of followers to recognize your own vulnerability.

Social media influencers in Los Angeles, who earn incomes through sharing their lives online, can also be targets for burglaries and other unwanted criminal attention.

It has never been easier for thieves to track down home addresses and personal assets when influencers share their designer-clad closets and their “OOTD” (outfit of the day) with thousands, and sometimes millions, of followers. 

“If you take a look at what’s been occurring, you know what’s been evolving over the years…there are a lot of things that have changed the game,” Michael Balboni, a cybersecurity expert and former Homeland Security official, told Fox News Digital. “The technology has evolved…now we have spear phishing, which is the targeting of an individual based upon personal information that you’ve been able to glean from the internet.”

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Joey Zauzig, a reality television personality who starred in MTV’s “Real Friends of WeHo,” with over half a million followers on Instagram, was home with his fiancé when robbers broke into his house on April 8, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

“My content is very positive and uplifting. You don’t think there are people trying to take you down, but I guess when thousands of people watch your lives and content, there are also people trying to target you,” Zauzig told the Los Angeles Times. “They clearly targeted me.”

TV personality Joey Zauzig attends the Warner Music Group pre-Grammy party at Citizen News in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2024. His home was broken into in April. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi told the Board of Police Commissioners this summer that the number of burglaries reported in the city in 2024 increased by 4%, KTLA reported.

“The boundaries between cyber security and physical security are becoming progressively blurred,” Clarissa Lopez, a senior associate at Prescient, a global risk management and intelligence services firm, wrote in an online blog post last month. “Influencers are consistently sharing their daily lives online which, in turn, exposes their patterns and daily surroundings to tens of thousands of people who are now also aware of these personal details.”

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While celebrity theft is not a new phenomenon, it has taken a new form in the age of social media. The so-called Bling Ring hit headlines over a decade ago after a string of home break-ins and burglaries of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom. The ring tracked celebrity whereabouts using sources like TMZ. 

Other celebrities have also reported break-ins in the past, including Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande.

Ariana Grande has dealt with a stalker and her brother was robbed in New York in 2022. (Getty Images)

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The direct exposure celebrities and influencers face also leaves them vulnerable to more serious crimes. 

The rapper Pop Smoke was killed after he posted a photo of a designer bag online that accidentally revealed the address of the rental house where he was staying.

TikTok culture has become increasingly popular and prevalent in American society. Content creators and social media influencers like Deja Foxx and John Russell spoke on the same stage as the president of the United States at the Democratic National Convention last week, NPR reported.

While their fame grows, the many eyes following them allow anyone with a smartphone to track even the smallest details about their lives, depending on what they share online. 

Content creator John Russell speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. (Jasper Colt-USA TODAY)

One solution? Balboni said influencers should hire “digital bodyguards.”

“Security professionals…someone who does, you know, scrape the content before it is posted for personal information,” he explained. “People who really understand the ability to weaponize social media.”

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While influencers’ security is already a concern, Balboni believes there is one factor that could conceal criminal activity online even further – artificial intelligence.

“You’re going to have somebody who sounds just like your best friend, looks like your best friend, talks like your best friend, not be your best friend,” he said. “That’s going to be a whole different world of how you protect not only your data, not only your reputation, but in some cases, unfortunately, maybe your safety.”