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Tips to Protect Your Identity and Wallet

Friday, January 9, 2015

(StatePoint) With so many new methods for cyber theft, taking extra steps to protect your bank accounts and money just makes sense.

Luckily, consumers and businesses are learning new methods to defend against this growing problem. Here are a few ways you can conduct your online shopping and banking business more securely:

• Create unique pin numbers for your debit cards, as well as complex usernames and passwords for accounts with your banks and online retailers. Never share this information with anyone, and be sure to log out of your accounts when your transactions are completed. Conduct personal business on your home computer or personal device as opposed to public WiFi, and always use a secure Internet connection.

• Manage privacy settings on your mobile devices and apps. Review the privacy disclosures for retailers or websites to ensure you are comfortable with how they will use your personal information. Set your mobile devices and PCs to lock when they are not being used, to help prevent someone from getting access to your personal data.

• Before responding to any request for personal, financial or account information, make sure you know who is asking and why they need it. Be extra careful if a request is made with an urgent or threatening tone, or an offer that sounds too good to be true. Criminals use these tricks to get personal information to access your accounts or commit identity theft.

• Monitor accounts and spending activity frequently. Take advantage of banking features, such as alerts that trigger when you have a low balance or unusual spending activity.

“Most banks provide mobile banking apps that allow you to keep tabs on your account activity on-the-go,” says Diane Morais, Ally Bank deposits and line of business integration executive. “In addition to their convenience, mobile apps are an excellent resource to spot unusual transactions in a timely manner.”

• Before providing your debit or credit information while shopping online, ensure your computer protection software and operating system are up to date. Some banks offer customers free or discounted anti-virus protection. For example, Ally Bank, Member FDIC, provides its customers Webroot SecureAnywhere anti-virus software to protect their devices, including PCs, tablets and smartphones, for free. Most people understand the importance of protecting their computers, but it’s important to protect your smartphones too.

Look for “https” in the web address field of your browser to ensure a website is secure. Check that the site is verified by TRUSTe or a similar data security service.

• Check your credit reports periodically. Getting a free credit report is easy. Consider putting a fraud alert on your credit report before any new accounts can be opened.

More tips to protect both your identity and wallet can be found at www.Ally.com/security/.

Don’t let cyber criminals get the best of you. In an increasingly digital world, follow these simple steps to increase security while taking advantage of the convenience of conducting your personal business online.

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