While Nextdoor takes the safety and privacy of its users seriously by incorporating a range of security features, guidelines and policies into the platform, it still isn’t completely unsusceptible to scams, fraud or harassment. To stay as safe and secure as possible while using Nextdoor, make sure to consider the following tips if you’re thinking of joining or are already an existing user. Consider the fact that Nextdoor collects information from your browser and device. This means that if you use Nextdoor on multiple platforms (your computer, your phone, your tablet), then it collects data from all those places. And if you sign up for Nextdoor through your Facebook account, it can access data from there too. To do this, select your profile picture in the top right and then select Settings > Privacy. Look for the Show address to my neighborhood as setting and select the option that only displays your street name. Any neighborhood can have as few as 100 households and as many as 3,000. That’s a very large number, and even though they’re local, most are probably still strangers to you. Nextdoor doesn’t currently have a feature that allows you to post to a custom list of select neighbors like Facebook does. When you post, you post to everyone in your neighborhood, so keep this in mind—and maybe think about using private messages for more personal conversations instead. In addition to researching businesses appropriately (reading online reviews, asking for references, verifying qualifications and certifications, etc.) about their products/services, consider privately messaging neighbors you know who’ve done business with them and ask about their experience. Scammers are well known to use third-party payment platforms to obtain personal information and payments from all sorts of unsuspecting victims. If a neighbor refuses to meet up in person and accept or offer payment in cash, then there’s a chance that they’re trying to scam you. Avoid giving anyone your Nextdoor login details, email address, phone number, PayPal email, credit card details, bank account, social security number or any other personal information through Nextdoor.
Typos, misspelled words and bad grammar;Multiple fonts and awkward accent placements;Messages concerning your Nextdoor password; andMismatched links (the link text doesn’t match the link that appears at the bottom of your browser when you hover your cursor over it).
To report a post or comment, select the top right of the poster/commenter’s name and select Report post or Report comment. To report a neighbor, access your Neighbors page or tab from the main menu, select the neighbor you want to report and then select the down arrow (web) or three dots (mobile app) followed by Report. Unfortunately, Nextdoor leads can’t limit any user’s posting or remove them from the neighborhood altogether, but they can at least vote to remove posts that they think have violated Nextdoor’s guidelines. At this time of writing, there’s a known scam regarding bargain items for gift cards in which advertisements are posted for luxury items that are listed at a “too good to be true” low price.
