For many, the run-up to the new year is the season of giving — but countless fraudsters, scammers and schemers lurking in the shadows see it as the season of taking.
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There’s never a good time to let your guard down and become complacent in protecting your money and the data that could compromise its security, but the winter holidays are the busiest time of year for swindlers, both online and in real life.
The following tips for protecting your finances won’t cost you a dime, but could save you many. They’re simple and easy to implement, but they can shore up your dollar defenses during the dangerous holiday season and keep your data and money safe all year long.
Brush Up on Trending Scams
Like all criminals, fraudsters engage in an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse with law enforcement, which forces them to continuously evolve, adapt and adopt new tactics and strategies.
The first step in staying safe is knowing what to look for. Organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintain pages packed with tips for avoiding the most common frauds and scams, including:
- Adoption fraud
- Blackmail scams
- Charity scams
- Cryptocurrency fraud
- Debt collection scams
- Debt relief scams
- Elder fraud
- Foreclosure or mortgage relief scams
- Grandparent scams
- Imposter scams
- Lottery and prize scams
- Mail fraud
- Man-in-the-middle scams
- Money mule scams
- Money transfer/mobile payment scams
- Romance scams
- Sale-of-goods scams
- Shipping scams
- Shopping scams
Learn More: 3 Signs You’ve ‘Made It’ Financially, According to Financial Influencer Genesis Hinckley
Freeze Your Credit Between Applications
According to Experian, it and the other two major credit reporting agencies — TransUnion and Equifax — allow anyone to freeze and unfreeze their credit. You can do it online, over the phone or by mail — and it can go a long way in keeping you safe from fraud.
When you initiate a freeze, the bureaus won’t release the details of your credit report to lenders. That will make it impossible for you to get a legitimate loan, but it will also prevent scammers from assuming your identity and borrowing in your name. Since freezing your credit is fast and free, and since you can unfreeze it before you apply for a line or a loan, it makes sense to keep your credit frozen when no one legitimate should be inquiring about it.
Say OK to MFA
According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), multi-factor authentication is a free, fast and powerful tool that can dramatically reduce your exposure to fraud and identity theft. MFA requires a second round of verification, like providing a fingerprint or entering a code sent via text or email — and CISA recommends enabling it on every account that offers it.
Use a Password Manager
Strong passwords are a powerful tool for keeping your identity, credit and money safe online. If you’re not using a password manager, chances are good that you’re taking the risk of recycling the same password or a close variant across your many scattered accounts. That’s because it’s nearly impossible to manage that many unique individual passkeys successfully one by one.
According to Cyber Magazine, password managers can streamline your online life while keeping you safe by creating and managing complex, hard-to-crack passwords for you across your entire online footprint.
Options like Bitwarden and NordPass are free or have free versions.
Don’t Click or Call
According to the FTC, the timeless strategy of phishing remains one of the most common and successful sources of fraud. Phishing is when you receive an authentic-looking email or text purporting to be from a trusted financial institution or service provider that directs you to click a link or call a phone number so they can do something like deliver your package or verify a charge on your account.
Don’t do it.
The only safe way to dispute a charge, verify your personal data, view messages or take any other action in any account is by navigating there yourself through a trusted app, phone number or website. Never click a link or call a number sent to you in a text or email, no matter how authentic it might appear.
Set Payment Apps to Private
Social p2p payment apps like CashApp and Venmo allow users to split bills and send money to their family and friends directly from their banks.
However, they can also put your dollars in danger by broadcasting those transactions to your network of contacts — Venmo transactions are public by default. That leaves it up to users to protect their privacy and guard their transactions by setting them to private, which publications like CNET strongly recommend.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 6 Fast and Free Ways To Safeguard Your Money From Fraud and Scams
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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