The holidays are in full swing, but the scammers aren’t taking any vacation days. That means it’s a great time for a recap of our most important fraud tips.
- Use strong passwords. Nope. Not your name. Not “Password123” and certainly not “Password.”
- Use unique passwords. Not the same one for multiple accounts.
- Yes, #1 and #2 are a pain. But you can use a secure password manager to help you keep up with them.
- Secure your devices. Enable biometrics, face recognition, complex passwords to keep your personal information private. Enable multi-factor authentication.
- Watch out for -ishings: phishing, smishing, and vishing.
- Don’t click links in unexpected emails or text messages, including messages purportedly from your financial institution saying there’s fraud on your account.
- Be cautious with links that ask you to sign in directly from an email.
- Don’t give out your personal information or access to your device for “support” you didn’t initiate.
- Don’t go buy gift cards and send the numbers to someone. Your boss didn’t really text you and ask you to do that.
- Take time to think. Ask someone else for a second opinion. If a call seems fishy, hang up and call the company back, entering the phone number yourself.
- Don’t send private information on public Wi-Fi.
- It’s safer to pay with a credit card than a debit card or payment app.
- Remember: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
For more on how to protect yourself from fraud throughout the year, bookmark our Fraud Prevention Hub.
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