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For many people it would be better to choose specific personal secrets due to the amount of info online. I'm not a very active social media user, and what little I post tends not to be about me, but from reading 15 year old Facebook posts made by friends of mine you could definitely find at least one example on each of those categories. Hell, I think probably even from old work-related LinkedIn posts.

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We had a “long lost aunt” come out of nowhere that got my phone number from a relative who got my number from another relative.

At that point, how can you validate it, as there’s no shared secret? The only thing we had was validating childhood stories. After a preponderance of them, we accepted she was real (she refused to talk on the phone — apparently her voice was damaged).

We eventually met her in real life.

The point is, you can always use these three principles: asking relatives to validate the phone number — something you have — and then the stories — something shared — and finally meeting in real life — something you are.

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