The enhanced technology of the internet has brought with it several new conveniences. Nowadays, people can shop online, get in touch with old friends, pay bills, and more. However, criminals have been evolving right along the side the internet, constantly engineering new ways to try to rip people off. Obviously this poses a risk to people that shop or transfer personal information online - especially those that use the internet to do their banking. If you don’t know how to protect yourself, you may be putting your money and credit in serious jeopardy by doing your banking online. So how do you avoid getting robbed in cyberspace?
Protect Your Password
Your online banking password is the key to your bank account. Therefore, crooks spend a great deal of time coming up with clever new ways to get that very piece of information from you. To prevent anyone from guessing your password, it is highly recommended that you use a random combination of letters and numbers. If your online banking platform supports case-sensitive passwords, it also helps to include a capital letter or two. The longer your password is, the better (although there are usually limits). To further protect your password, you should change it periodically.
Do Not Open Suspicious Emails
‘Phishing’ is the practice of tricking the consumer into revealing personal information (such as passwords, account numbers, PINs, etc) by posing as legitimate companies that claim to need the information. These emails may contain the logo of the company they are claiming to represent, but do not be mislead. No legitimate banking institution will ever email you asking for your personal information. If you have an account with them, they already have that information. These emails usually contain a link to a site that is designed to look identical to the institution they are impersonating. If you were to enter your banking information on this fake site, it would be immediately relayed to the criminals. If you’re ever unsure about a website, check the address bar to make sure that the URL of the website matches the official site of the company.
The most obvious indications that such an email is fraudulent and should be discarded are failed attempts at correctly addressing you by name, grammatical errors, or links within the email directing you to domains that you have never heard of. If anything about the format of the email deviates from how emails from your financial institutions usually look, then you should be suspicious. If you are still uncertain of whether or not an email is authentic or if it is fraudulent, contact your banking institution’s customer service to have them verify.
AntiVirus Software and Firewalls
It is imperative that your computer is protected with a high quality antivirus utility. There are tons of antivirus review sites online that can help you make an informed decision as to which antivirus software is best for you.
Communicate with your Bank
Don’t hesitate to contact your financial institution at the first sign of trouble. They deal with identity theft and fraudulent activity all the time and they will be able to advise you in your particular situation. If you accidentally submit your information to a fraudulent website, contact them right away and let them know about it. This will help minimize or even prevent trouble from occurring. Keep your contact information up to date with your bank so that they can get in touch with you quickly if they see any suspicious activity in your account.
Tags: fraud protection, online banking, online safety
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 4:14 am and is filed under Advice, Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.