Today I started a collaboration with Aura. Aura is the leader in intelligent security solutions, providing all-in-one digital protection for consumers.
Nowadays we do almost everything online.
From shopping to paying bills, banking, connecting with friends and family, and more – hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t spend a significant amount of their time on the Internet.
After all, online consumers have an average of 90 accounts and spend more than 6 hours a day on the internet.
Unfortunately, there is also an increase in scams.
The internet and the online world are beautiful, but there are also risks. Cyber crime is quite common and can cause a lot of stress and loss of money.
Financial fraud is common today and growing at an alarming rate.
Even if you think you could never fall victim to financial fraud, it happens to ordinary people every day – wherever you live, how high or low your income is, your age, and so on. No one wants to think it could happen to them until it happens.
According to the FTC, identity theft and fraud loss will cost people $3.3 billion in the US alone in 2020, and someone will become a victim of identity theft or fraud every 7 seconds. Identity theft cases doubled in 2020, which is a huge increase! In addition, more than 46,000 scam websites were detected every week in 2020.
That’s a lot of financial fraud!
That’s why I want to help you prevent financial fraud so you can protect your finances.
Today I’m going to talk about:
What Financial Fraud Is Signs Your Personal Information May Have Been Stolen How This Could Happen To You What To Do If You Are A Victim Of Financial Scams And More!
How can you prevent financial fraud?
What is Financial Fraud? What is the most common form of financial fraud?
Financial fraud is when someone steals your money, assets or personal identity.
Financial fraud affects all kinds of people – young, old, in different cities, states and countries, different income levels and more.
Scammers don’t care who you are – they just want your money.
Financial fraud includes:
Opening new bank accounts in your name Taking over your existing financial accounts Charging your credit card Opening loans and credit cards with your personal information Identity theft Pyramid or Ponzi schemes Home deposit theft (this is very common now and it’s when someone pretends to be involved in your home buying process and intercepts your down payment for your home, usually via email)
And more.
The list is endless and new scams are constantly being created.
What are signs that my personal information has been stolen?
If your identity or personal information has been stolen, there are signs you may want to look for. Among which:
You have charges on your credit card or bank statement that you do not recognize. When you get your monthly statements, take a look at them and make sure you recognize all expenses, be they large, small, expenses or income. Identity thieves will do everything they can to see what catches your eye before charging something expensive. There is a new credit card or loan in your name that you know nothing about. This is an immediate flag that you should not ignore. If something isn’t familiar to you, you should investigate it right away. You have received phone calls or letters from collection agencies. If someone tries to collect a debt from you that you are not aware of, it could be because someone has stolen your identity. You receive bills in the mail that you do not know.
These are all signs you don’t want to overlook or ignore. You should investigate these immediately and find out what’s going on.
How does financial fraud take place?
Financial fraud can happen in many different ways, such as:
You connected to a bad Wi-Fi connection You may have fallen for a Craigslist rental scam Been the victim of an internet email scam Lost your wallet Clicked on a fake link in an email Been the victim of a data breach (lately it happens a lot lately like) Someone has hacked your computer, wifi connection or your online accounts
Unfortunately, there are many different ways your personal information could end up in the wrong person’s hands.
How can I prevent financial fraud and scams?
Fortunately, many scams are pretty obvious. If you take your time and look out for common warning signs, you can most likely avoid a lot of the scams.
There are some simple signs to look out for, such as:
Are there many typos in the email you are reading? If so, I would be careful about clicking links or giving out any personal information. Major corporations, your bank, and other places that deal with your financial information are rarely different from typos. Is someone pretending to be someone else online, like your bank? I never try to give out personal information unless I have to. If I do, I’ll contact the company myself, in case it’s a fake email or phone call. Yes, it takes a little more time, but it can save you a lot of stress. Is the website safe? When you click on a URL, your browser will usually tell you whether the website you are on is safe or not. Does it sound too good to be true? You know what they say – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You should always do your research if you have any doubts.
There are also other things you can do to help prevent financial fraud, such as making sure you research the person or company contacting you, contacting them individually (such as calling your bank directly at the number you not the number in the email you received), checking your credit report, creating difficult and different passwords, being careful about the WiFi you connect to, and setting up alerts on your credit card.
Another way is to use a service like Aura, which I’ll go into in detail below.
How can Aura help protect me?
While I realize that the above article may scare you, or make you realize that you have compromised your personal information in the past, there are things you can do to keep your data and finances safe.
One easy way is to sign up for a service that protects you and your personal information.
Aura is the leader in intelligent security solutions, providing all-in-one digital protection for consumers like you and me.
In fact, more than 1 million people use Aura and Identity Guard (a brand of Aura) to protect themselves every day.
Aura is easy to set up so you can protect yourself, your internet network and your devices from scammers.
They help prevent others from accessing your online accounts (such as bank and personal accounts), prevent scammers from using your personal information for financial fraud (such as obtaining loans or credit cards in your name), and minimize the impact if your personal information stolen or made public online (for example, if your Social Security number, driver’s license, or passport number has been stolen).
Aura offers identity protection such as:
Credit monitoring Credit freezing Bank account monitoring (for example, you may be notified if your bank account information is changed without your knowledge, for example if a new account holder has been added) Dark web monitoring Public record monitoring Home title monitoring (Get notified if your names of home titles have changed) Plus antivirus, VPN, password manager and parental controls (coming soon).
This is all combined in one product, so you can get the best security protection.
For example, Aura monitors and alerts you if there are new questions about your credit report, such as for credit cards and bank loans. This way you can make sure that no one uses your identity to open new accounts.
Another way Aura helps is that they also alert you to suspicious spending. You simply link your bank accounts to Aura and your finances will be monitored so you can spot any early signs of someone who may have stolen your credit card or other personal information.
Aura combines financial protection, identity protection and network protection in one service, so you can protect your identity, your personal information on your computer and more.
With Aura, you can secure your online accounts, monitor alerts, lock and monitor your credit, protect yourself from scams and malware, and more.
Click here for more information about Aura. You can get a free 14 day trial to try it out and see what you think.
What are you doing to protect yourself from financial fraud?
This post How can you prevent financial fraud?
was original published at “https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2022/03/financial-fraud.html”