CHARLOTTE — From your phone to your front door, one simple detail you share online could help a stranger find out where you live.
Channel 9’s Erika Jackson asked people on Charlotte’s Rail Trail for their Instagram handles. With those 30 characters or less, she was able to find their addresses.
In many cases, searching their username quickly led to their full names. From there, tagged locations on photos helped identify their city. With just that information, it was simple to find their address through a free people-search website.
It’s not just what you share about yourself that can put people at risk. What you post can also reveal information about other people, including when they aren’t home.
In December 2025, NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family were killed in a plane crash in Statesville. The Iredell County Sheriff says weeks later, Terrell Williams saw headlines about the crash and used that information to target Biffle’s home near Mooresville.
Williams was later connected to another burglary at a home near Atlanta and the scene of a high-profile homicide.
“He used headlines, social media posts, different things to find out when people were not at home,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.
So what can people do to protect their person information online?
“First of all, don’t put everything in the world on Facebook or any other social media,” Iredell County Deputy Daniel Icard said.
He says it’s important to be mindful about what you post on social media and who can see it.
There are other ways to take that protection further:
- Request to have your home blurred on Google Street View.
- Use Google’s “Results about you” tool to find and request the removal of certain personal information from search results.
- If someone else posts your private information, you can report it to the social media platform and request its removal.
- Opt out of people-search websites that publish information like your home address, phone number and family connections.
Every post, every detail online leaves a digital footprint. If you aren’t careful, that could lead the wrong person straight to your personal information.