More Ways to Help Protect Yourself from Fraud

AARP

En español

According to the Federal Trade Commission, theft through fraud may have been as high as $158.3 billion in 2023 alone. That’s $434 million every day, or about $300,000 every minute, stolen from Americans by fraud criminals. To put this into perspective, if fraud were a US company, it would rank in the top 40 by revenue.

Every one of us is a potential fraud target. But the good news is you can make yourself a harder one to reach.

In previous alerts, we shared tips like using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, checking your credit report, turning on auto-updates, ignoring unsolicited messages, and shredding sensitive documents. Now, here are three more ways to safeguard your personal information.

Avoid Postal Theft

Criminals are stealing mail in search of checks, which they can alter or “wash” to steal money out of your account.
Collect your mail promptly after delivery and bring outgoing mail directly to the post office.

Bank Online

Though it may feel counterintuitive, online banking is actually safer in many ways.
You get 24/7 access to monitor your accounts and can set real-time alerts for activity.
Setting up online access yourself also helps block criminals from doing it with stolen identifying information.

Use Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Apps Safely

P2P Apps like Venmo, Zelle and Cash App are convenient, but unlike credit cards, payments are instant and often irreversible.
Two common P2P-related scams are impersonation (relative in trouble and needs money quickly) and fake sellers on online marketplaces.
It’s safest to use them to transact with people you know and trust.

%{postComment}%