With Americans losing billions of dollars to fraud each year, it’s important that you learn proven ways of protecting your finances. Here, our pros provide six tips to prevent fraud and protect both yourself and your accounts this year.
Fortify passwords with this number.
If your password is eight characters or less, hackers can crack it in less than an hour. The good news: If you go up to 18 characters, it would take over 400 trillion years for would-be bad guys to guess it! Luckily, there’s no need to memorize marathon passwords, assures financial security expert Carter Seuthe of MyCreditSummit.com. “Just come up with a phrase close to your heart — it could be anything from a meaningful song lyric to a favorite movie to a book quote. Then either replace a few of the letters with corresponding numbers — say, a zero in place of an ‘o’ — or add a few digits to the end, and your password will come up as ‘strong’ every time!” To keep all your passwords securely organized in one place, consider free apps like Keeper, LastPass, or 1Password.
Secure your cash with a code word.
An easy-to-confuse-us scam? Spoofing: When hackers call, and the number that pops up on your phone looks like it’s either from your bank or a family member. “Your bank will never ask for your username and password, so if this caller does, it’s a red flag,” says Derek Sall, founder of LifeAndMyFinances.com. “Tell them you’re going to hang up and call them directly.” As for…
