Anthony Kearney from Furness Building Society shares some tips to stop bad actors from getting their hands on your hard-earned savings.
Anybody can fall victim to fraudsters, especially online. Scammers make their living tricking people out of their money, so they know what they’re doing and can be hard to spot.
But there are ways to protect yourself and your savings – you just need to know what to look out for and what to do if you think you’ve been targeted.
Protecting your financial information
There are lots of precautions you can take to prevent somebody from accessing your money:
- Avoid using passwords that can be guessed easily (such as 123456 or your date of birth) and use a mix of letters, cases, numbers and symbols.
- Use different passwords for different accounts and change them regularly.
- Never give your account details or security information to anyone. A bank or building society would never ask you for your full PIN or password.
- Always log out of a website or app when you have completed a transaction.
- Protect any devices that connect to the internet with up-to-date anti–virus software.
- Keep important documents out of sight and in a safe place.
Protecting your identity
Identity theft – when a criminal pretends to be you – can have a devastating impact on your finances. Taking extra steps in addition to those above will help prevent your identity from being stolen:
- Use a shredder to destroy any documents that contain your name, address or financial details. Consider switching to paperless billing where possible.
- Look out for the padlock symbol on websites when making a purchase. This means the website uses a ‘secure protocol’ that encrypts data transferred between your browser and the website. Although this isn’t a guarantee, it means the website has taken precautions to keep your data safe.
- If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to represent your bank or building society, do not hand over any security details, passwords or account numbers. Remember, they wouldn’t ask for this, especially not in full.
- Subscribe to Royal Mail’s redirect service for at least a year if you move house.
- Check your credit history regularly for anything that looks out of the ordinary. You can do this by requesting your credit report for free from one of the UK’s credit reference agencies (CRAs).
If you think you’ve been targeted
If you believe you’ve been the victim of a scam or fraud, you should contact your bank or building society immediately. You may also find it helpful to contact Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting service.
For more help
You’ll find further information and advice on protecting yourself and your savings by visiting the Take Five website.
Our financial education app, powered by Doshi, also has lots of fun and straightforward lessons that could help you and your loved ones improve your money management skills – including two levels on ‘Protecting Your Assets’. You’ll also be rewarded with vouchers and have access to a range of discounts just by using the app!
