Prevent Scams with New Rules and Smart Habits

In case you didn’t know,  for you to prevent and avoid scams, you need to be in control and engaged in your personal cybersecurity. What does it mean to control and manage your online security? It means taking proactive steps to prevent hackers or fraudsters from doing the following: The reason you need to take control is simple: No one else is really looking out for your safety online. Sure, most companies have security measures in place, but these are primarily aimed at identifying potential fraudulent transactions. They can’t stop a scammer from fooling you. No one other than you (or your close family) will help keep watch over your accounts and assets and stay vigilant. Sure, you can pay a company for identity theft protection services, such as LifeLock. However, even then, they’ll mostly notify you and offer assistance when something has gone wrong with one of your accounts—or when they see something has happened or is happening. In those cases, it might be too late. In any case, that won’t be enough to help you prevent and avoid scams. Why? Because victims of scams willingly and unwittingly give their money to a scammer, of course, without knowing they’re being tricked or swindled. An identity protection service can’t help anyone with that. More than that, those services don’t educate you on the other safeguards you can take to limit your exposure to scams and fraud and lower your risk profile. That’s not their job. To lower your risk of being victimized, you have to take control of your online life. You may not have had any close calls with scammers lately, but it’s vital to remember that scams do happen often and when you least expect them.  A scammer hopes to catch you off guard when you’re not on high alert and ripe to fall for their scheme. Here are some tried-and-true rules to follow and habits to develop—as well as new steps to take—from cybersecurity experts. None of these is difficult, and each one can go a long way towards boosting your personal online security. Scammers need to engage you from the start to make their plan work. If you don’t take the hook and don’t respond, they can’t do a thing and will just move on. If you’ve switched to paperless statements, you’ll need to go online, log in to your accounts, and find your latest statement. You’ve probably heard all this advice before, but have you followed it? These simple steps provide powerful protection for your accounts. Fraudsters, hackers, and scammers are relentless, never letting up on their attacks. Everyone is a target, but that doesn’t mean everyone will become a victim—not if they take steps to boost their security. For more valuable resources, see the articles and podcast episodes listed at our Learning Center.