Review your banking, credit card, or payment service statements regularly to ensure there are no unauthorized charges or withdrawals. Be sure to shred bank and credit card statements before throwing them in the trash. Recent events have seen a increase in the use of online shopping, mobile payments and online banking, it’s more important than […]

Recent events have seen a big rise in the use of online shopping, mobile payments and online banking, it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on your financial accounts for possible fraud. Check your bank and credit card statements regularly to make sure there’s nothing wrong.

Avoid online shopping, banking, and sensitive work that requires passwords or credit card information while using public Wi-Fi. And only use sites that begin with “https://” when online shopping or banking.

Email is an old set of protocols that can easily leak your data. Don’t include information about your Social Security benefits or bank account in the body of a standard email. If need be, transmit such items instead via phone, fax, or even encrypted email, which is available via free tools such as GPG Suite.

E-commerce sites are typically well-protected from attacks. However, you can further reduce your risk by paying with credit, or with a gift/prepaid card, instead of debit. That way, you have more protections from identity theft and no prospect of your bank account being cleaned out if your card number is stolen.