The Advertising Research Foundation recently released results from its third annual Privacy Study, a survey conducted to find out how Americans perceive and treat their personal and private information. Among other things, the survey measures how well Americans understand privacy terminology and concepts, and how willing they are to release different kinds of private data.

This year’s study occurred within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a unique environment where we’re being asked to share deeply personal information we might not otherwise. Not only are we readily sharing medical information in an effort to slow the virus’ spread, but we’re also engaged in a nationwide discussion about hardship—one that shines a spotlight on our individual finances.

Given the dialog about contact tracing, personal health habits, and economic relief, most of us could have guessed at the results of this year’s survey. Though this has been a gradual trend over the years, the 2020 Privacy Study indicates a sharp uptick in how comfortable people are with sharing all kinds of sensitive personal information.

Some examples of this uptick include the amount of people willing to share medical information (34% in 2020 versus 27% in 2019) and an increase in data-sharing among those who have experienced job loss or wage decreases.

It was also found that despite this increase in sharing, more Americans understand the terms of privacy agreements. For example, the study shows that respondents have a much greater understanding of what “third party” information sharing means. Not only are we sharing more of our personal information than in the past two years, but we are also much more aware of what we are agreeing to when we share that information.

It’s not hard to understand why this trend is occurring. We are being actively encouraged to share medical information to help healthcare professionals fight the virus. And we all have a tendency to volunteer our experience when we talk about economic policy and impactful stimulus measures.

But while this sharing is necessary in many respects, it can also make us susceptible to the dangers of putting too much out there to too many people.

Within the first weeks of COVID making it to our shores, financial predators repainted, refurbished, and reintroduced their scams to suit our pandemic-anxious climate. Instead of impersonating Social Security Administration workers or law enforcement, they now impersonate doctors, nurses, and contact tracers. Instead of offering lottery prizes, they now offer COVID testing and stimulus checks.

The critical takeaway from this study is knowing that we’re living in a world where we are being asked to share more and more—and most of us are doing it.

Unfortunately, the more we put our concerns about our privacy to the side for the greater good, the more we prime ourselves to be okay with it in the future. And that could create a pretty big problem moving forward.

We say all of this just to remind you to stay vigilant about who you tell what. There are so many reasons why putting your experience out there is important—we rely on people telling their stories about illness and financial struggle to advocate for positive change.

But not everyone who asks to hear your story is trying to work for you. Some of them might be actively working against you. And they don’t need very much information about you to do it.

So continue to be mindful and alert when it comes to your personal information. This is both true of direct contact from a potential scammer AND generally sharing your personal details on social media. Ask those who may approach you to share your personal information to verify their identity or purpose, and never, ever feel like you HAVE to trust someone asking for it.