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Internet Banking Tips

Internet Banking Tips

Written by R. A. Stewart

Internet banking is here to stay whether we like it or not but so is internet scams which have caught so many people out. It is important to stick to a set of rules in order to minimise your chances of being caught out by these scams. Here is a list of rules which will help you to keep out of trouble.

Rule one-Use a separate email address for dating sites.

If you are using a dating site then do not use the same email address you would use for your banking. You have heard of “Romance Scams” and these come in many different forms. You certainly do not know who you are dealing with and you do not want your main email address clogged up with unwanted emails. 

Rule two-Two factor authentication

Give yourself an extra layer of protection by setting up a two-factor authentication. This will involve setting it up with your phone. Once this is done you will sign in with an username and password and then receive a text with a code which you will type in the space provided.

Rule three-Do not connect your debit card to your personal account

This is just asking for trouble! One person I know was fleeced of $3,000. He invested this money into his everyday account then the money disappeared from his account the following day. A site he bought goods from had his debit card details and this was linked to his personal account with the hacker having his and other customer’s banking details. The bank made good his loss.

Rule four-Do not leave all of your money in one account

You should never just leave all of your money in your personal/everyday account. Your savings should be in a separate account. It is important to establish firstly what this money is for and invest it accordingly

Rule five-Do not click on links

It is not always possible to know whether an email you receive is from your bank or from a scammer, therefore, make it a rule to never click on a link in an email. Instead, type in your bank’s website on your computer.

Rule six-Use this google trick

Copy and paste any email you receive from your bank into the google search engine and see what comes up. Do the same with any phone number you receive in an email or text. This night threw up some red flags.

Rule seven-Never, never give your password to anyone

Never give your password to anyone if they ask for it. If anyone asks you for your password in an email or text message then this is a certain red flag.

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www.robertastewart.com

 

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KEEPING YOUR EYE ON THE BALL IN A DIGITAL WORLD

This article is not intended as financial advice so if you require financial advice see your bank manager, financial advisor, or budget advisor

How to be money smart in a digital world

Written by R. A. Stewart

It is important to be smart in this digital world we live in and that applies particularly in the banking world. With digital currency and in particular Bitcoin gaining in popularity one needs to keep their eye on the ball in order to avoid being scammed.

Investing in Bitcoin, litecoin, or whatever digital currency you use is speculative therefore it is imperative that you invest only discretionary money in these things. That is money left over after paying your important household expenses.

Visa debit cards issued by the banks are recommended for use over the internet rather than credit cards; the difference between the two is that with debit cards you are using money on the card. If there is just $200 on the card then that is all you can spend. You simply top up the card regularly by making transfers from your everyday account.

When you use a credit card you are spending borrowed money and there is a cost to this. If a scammer gets hold of the card details then you are in trouble.

I will tell you a couple of stories;

A lady who is as financially dumb as it is possible to be had her benefit paid into her visa debit card and when her benefit money disappeared from the card she went to the police and accused her nephew of stealing the money. Do you see the first mistake she made?

Having your pay go into your visa debit card which is also used for buying off the internet is downright stupidity. The police could not find any information linking her nephew to the disappearing money. They said, “It looks like the money went to an overseas website.”

A person with sense would have gone to the bank first and asked them to investigate. Another thing she could have done is check her emails because when a website withdraws money from someone’s account they send the customer an email.

An uncomfortable truth

There is a lot of internet fraud which goes unreported because victims are too embarrassed or proud to admit how stupid they have been to have been scammed. People of all intelligence from university graduates to high school dropouts have been scammed. This issue is no respecter of people, but in the case above, the lady concerned has a very low IQ but that is another story.

In a separate case a young man deposited $3,000 into his everyday account on a Friday then on the Saturday he discovered the money missing from his account. He told the bank on Monday and they did their investigation. As it turned out, it went to an overseas website which he had been purchasing stuff from. The site was hacked and the hacker had access to the banking information. His three grand went into his everyday account but that account was linked to his visa card and that was the mistake he made.

You should never link your main account to your visa debit card. If you do you are leaving the door wide open for scammers. It is also advisable to have an account which is not accessed by the internet for larger sums of money.

In the case above, the bank did the right thing and deposited $3,000 into his account.

These situations are more common than you think so it is up to ordinary people to use their common sense.

www.robertastewart.com

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