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Tag: #consumers
Protecting your money and your data – It’s “Cybersecurity Awareness Month”

Protecting your money and your data – It’s “Cybersecurity Awareness Month”

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:16 — 11.4MB)

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Financial cyber-fraud is a twelve-billion dollar business each year — all of it illegal.

Consumer advocacy banking specialist Blythe Figurelle is among the experts promoting Cyber Security Awareness month during October. Whether its by phone or an electronic message, the fraudsters try to catch you with what she calls “emotional manipulation”.

Figurelle says it is common for scammers to initiate contact out of the blue, pretend to be a business or person you trust, or add unreasonable urgency.

Her advice:

    • If it’s a phone call, don’t say anything and hang up.
    • If it’s on social media, a text or an email — delete that message, without clicking any links.
    • You may wish to also block that sender or that phone number

 

On this Family Life News podcast, Figurelle describes the acronym STOP as the four steps you should do, if you suspect a call or a message is not legitimate, or someone pushes you for your account number or other private information:

Stay cautious

Take your time … don’t be rushed into anything

Only trust verified sources

Protect your codes and numbers and passwords … every time

 

Bonus content:

A coalition of law enforcement and governments in Dubai and Emirates put together a clever public service announcement, urging consumers to always protect all of their personal financial data. This music video portrays a banker whose customer gave away his codes to scammers.  Find it here.

Inside Out – Avoiding Scams – 04/05/23

Inside Out – Avoiding Scams – 04/05/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:58 — 6.8MB)

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Scams come at us from every direction—postal mail, email, text, and telephone—and they’re getting harder to identify. 

 “It all comes down to you never know who you’re talking to on the other end of the phone or other end of the computer,” says New York State Trooper Officer Mark O’Donnell. 

 By knowing the characteristics of most scams and thinking things through, we’re more likely to keep our money and personal information out of the hands of con artists. 

“It can be confusing,” O’Donnell says, “and again, these people are professionals, and that’s what they do. They prey on people, and they try to get them confused and scared and nervous for them to open up their bank accounts.”

Learn what to look for in this Inside Out conversation, and then pass the word along, especially to members of older generations. “Talk to your parents. It’s like talking to your kids about stuff in school when they’re growing up. You’ve got to talk to your parents about this and your grandparents. It’s kind of a full circle of life,” says O’Donnell, the Barracks E Public Information Officer. 

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