Protect Yourself: Tools and Tips to Combat Modern Scams

Ever wondered how scammers are becoming even more cunning? Discover crucial strategies to keep yourself safe from ever-evolving fraud schemes with Stacey Hyde from Envision Financial Planning. This episode offers you essential tools and insights to protect your personal information in today's digital age. You'll learn the importance of distinguishing fake emails from genuine ones, managing suspicious phone calls, and why keeping separate email accounts can drastically reduce your risk of falling prey to scams. With fraud on the rise, staying informed is your best defense.

In our chat, we'll explore how artificial intelligence is giving scammers an edge and why this makes proactive measures like two-factor authentication more critical than ever. Stacey shares personal insights and practical tips that can help you navigate this challenging landscape, especially during busy periods when we're most distracted. By the end, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of how to guard against these threats and peace of mind knowing that you're better equipped to handle potential scams. Tune in to become your own first line of defense against fraud.

Envision Financial Planning. 5100 Poplar Avenue, Suite 2428, Memphis TN 38137. (901) 422-7526, This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the United States. Advisory Services offered through Envision Financial Planning, a Registered Investment Adviser.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde with Envision Financial Planning, and I'm back for another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 Minutes or Less, and I'm gonna talk about something that we've discussed quite a few times in the past, and that is the scammers. And the reason that I'm bringing this up again is because they keep getting smarter and more creative, and it's just you've got to be so, so careful. If you get an email saying that your credit card has been hacked, do not click anything there. If you have a login which you should to your credit card account, log in, look at it, see if it's something posted there. Generally speaking, if they suspect fraud, they're going to text you and you'll know, because you will have gotten a text from them, from that number before, and they're also going to post it either in their app or online, or you can just call them, call the number on the back of your card and say hey, has my account been subject to fraud? I got an email Because in the old days in the old days being a couple of years ago it was pretty easy to tell which ones were fake and which ones were not, but now it's gotten much, much more difficult.

Speaker 1: 1:22

One thing you might want to consider doing which can really cut down on the amount of fake emails you get is if you have one email that you use for your real stuff like you use it for your credit card statements, you use it for investment accounts, you get your 401k statement notifications that that's your real main email and then you have one that you know everybody wants your email to do anything. These days when you buy something online they want an email. Try to use that email for that stuff, because then that gets kind of all the spammy marketing emails over there and it's easier to pick out. Because if you get an email about your credit card but it went to your spammy email and not your real email, it's easier to tell. And if you have an iPhone or an Android phone, it's easy to set up a separate email account. I personally like the Apple Mail app. I don't like to use the Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Outlook and all that To me. That takes me longer to look through them. But if you do do that for your work email word to the wise, because it's happened to me be sure if you look at something and you want to go back and look at it later, make sure you mark it as unread because it's real easy not. To Make sure you mark it as unread because it's real easy not to. But that aside, it is really important and the phone calls have gotten better.

Speaker 1: 2:50

Be real careful answering calls for numbers that you don't recognize. You can let them go to voicemail and then check the voicemail and if it's something you need to respond to call them back. But if it's in your phone as spam or suspected spam and they don't leave a message, they didn't really need to talk to you anyway. They have likely gone on to try to find somebody else. So and you can't always trust what the caller id says.

Speaker 1: 3:21

If you get a call about your credit card or something like that and they're asking you for an account number, if they call you and they want your account number, your date of birth, your social security number, any information like that, just hang up immediately and call your bank. Call the number on the back of your credit card, because they are trying to get that information. If the bank suspects fraud, they may reach out to you and ask you if you made a purchase, but they're not going to ask you for your account number. And if they do, tell them that you're not going to give that to them. You'll call back on their main number because you don't want to take any chances.

Speaker 1: 4:01

It's gotten so bad that Schwab, our account custodian, actually sent out a fraud warning to all of their account holders, because the amount of fraud has increased so exponentially and, unfortunately, artificial intelligence has made it much easier to spoof things, so we have to be extra diligent. That's why, even though it's annoying to have to get a text every time you log in, it really is protecting you. So I know I've covered this before, but I think, especially this time of year, when people are out spending, they're preoccupied. It's important to remind you to pay attention. Take a little bit of extra time, don't just react. Thanks for tuning in. This has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less.