On Wednesday, a young Australian woman learned that there are some things that should be kept off social media. And, because this is the internet, she had to learn it the hard way.
The woman, whose name is Chantelle, won $825 by betting on a winning horse at the Melbourne Cup. That horse had a slim chance of winning at 101 to 1 odds, but it did (to be honest, I don’t know what this means, but it seems like a good bet)! Then, to celebrate, Chantelle posted a selfie with her winning ticket to Facebook. That selfie included the ticket’s barcode, allowing someone to use the image to claim her winnings for themselves.
“To the low life who is obviously my friend on Facebook and used my photo to claim our winnings. You’re a massive d*ck. You ruined my day,” Chantelle wrote when she discovered the theft, according to Mashable.
The story could have a happy ending for Chantelle, though. She told radio station Triple M that police were “confident” that they could find who stole her winnings, and had already tracked where the money had been claimed (which had apparently been done at an automated machine).
So let’s keep this in mind when it comes to sensitive information and the Internet. Don’t back up naked pictures to your cloud, don’t give out your social security number to Nigerian princes via email and don’t post anything important with a barcode to social media. You can be the best horse better in the world, but common sense is much cheaper.