Recently, a lot has been said about losing our financial privacy and how various big corporations and government agencies are using this information to steal from us. According to Dan Schatt and other financial insiders, there are some key ways to fight this financial privacy invasion.
1) Keep Your Finances Separate
Keeping your finances separate will make it harder for anyone to steal from you. You can do this by setting up a different bank account for each of your paychecks or even your bills. Also, try using multiple email addresses and phone numbers when making purchases online; don’t use your primary email or phone number.
2) Limit Your Financial Information Online
To limit your financial information online, try using different usernames and passwords for every single account. Also, when making purchases online, be sure to use a secure connection (HTTPS://).
3) Check Your Accounts Regularly
By checking your accounts regularly, you’ll know right away if someone is stealing from you or if any suspicious activity takes place. You can do this by setting up text alerts on all of your accounts or choosing one website to visit daily. I recommend visiting the site of the Better Business Bureau (www.BBB.org) since they usually have an array of trustworthy businesses listed there.
4) Don’t Click on Suspicious Links
If you receive links either in email or on any social media that seems suspicious, don’t click on them. If you hover your cursor over the link and it doesn’t look like what it says (for example, you might receive an email saying that a friend has shared a video with you, but if you hover your cursor over the link, the site may say something else), don’t click on it because chances are, if it looks suspect, to begin with, there is probably some malware attached to the link.
5) Use Strong Passwords
You should always use strong passwords so cybercriminals can not easily access your accounts and steal from or even lock you out of them. You should never use your date of birth or anniversary and common names such as Michael or Jennifer.
6) Watch Out for Phishing Emails
Additionally, you should always be wary of phishing emails that try to steal your personal information. You can identify these emails by looking at the “from” line and any links within the email. If the from line seems strange or has a misspelled word, chances are it’s a scam. In addition, if there are any links in the email body, hover your cursor over them and see where they take you before clicking on them. If those sites seem suspicious or have nothing to do with the link itself, don’t click on them because they may contain malware or viruses.
7) Sign Up for Account Alerts
By signing up for account alerts, you’ll know right away if someone tries to steal from you. So, for example, when you receive a text message saying, “Your Uber account has been deactivated. Please click here or call this number,” don’t go to the link and don’t call the number because chances are it’s some sort of scam that is designed to get your personal information.
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