Advancement of technology has lead to an increase in scams. You need to know how to protect your wealth. Let’s discuss a plan to protect yourself.

 

Show Notes: 

• How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing

Full Transcript:

Anthony: It’s a scary thought to have your identity stolen or to be scammed and to lose money. Unfortunately, it’s out there Alex. Number one is what do people need to be aware of?

Alex: Yeah so people need to be aware that listen these scammers are quite intelligent you know the days of like the Saudi prince who needs your help you know wire a hundred thousand dollars um I mean sometimes that happens but scammers have gotten a lot more intelligent nowadays they know your demographic information know they might know your tendencies and your habits and so equipped with that information they’re going to target you very well so you really at a basic level kind of always need to be on your guard any email that you receive any phone call received um have a little bit of you know kind of have your antenna up have that red flag aware like hey is this legitimate? Is this a real call? Is this a real email? I need to check into this more.

Anthony: So if how should people be aware of things like you know the IRS which is a common one social security because they do tend to target retirees. I mean how should they expect to receive the proper communication versus how a scammer might approach it.

Alex:  Yeah and these types of scams right there they’re elevated this year. #1 COVID people are at home things are kind of chaotic right now but also too with the holidays there’s a lot of online shopping and so you know people are getting a lot of emails a lot of receipts so always be aware of you know what you should be looking for.

I’d say the other thing too is understanding that scammers are going to play into fear and urgency. Those are like the two main ingredients. A scam is going to play into fear and urgency, if you don’t do this in the next you know three hours your accounts will be seized, liquidated, and captured. So it always plays into this doomsday scenario that if you don’t take action very very quickly something bad is going to happen. So always be aware of that. 

The other thing too and I’ve noticed this especially with retirees or that you know if they have large sums of money is they might get a call right they’ll get a call from a bank like “oh I bank at Wells Fargo” and they’ll say “Hi i’m so and so with Wells Fargo.” Always be careful with those calls what you might want to do is just say “Okay what’s your name? Okay, what is this in regards to? Okay, not a problem I’ll give you guys a call back.” Hang up and look up the legitimate number of the Wells Fargo so instead of conversing with that person right over the phone. Go “Not a problem, I’ll give you guys a call right back.” Look up the actual phone number for either the bank the financial institution and call them directly instead of conversing right then and there.

 Anthony: So going back to the source yourself rather than just the exact main call so let’s talk too about emails because that’s a common way. I mean if a scammer will send out all these emails it’s called “phishing” and there will be a link or an attachment in that email how do they deal with that if it’s questionable?

 

Alex: Yeah so you want to look at like what’s who’s the sender right look at that email sometimes they’re very close like they’ll change one letter in the sender name, so you have to be very careful too there can be links within the email that’ll say click here what you can do just a little kind of tip is when you hover over the link with your mouse it’ll tell you where you’re going and if you see a link with a bunch of random letters and numbers you can probably you know feel like ah this isn’t the best place for me to go to. You know delete it, delete it out of your deleted box, and just be done with it yeah it can be tough it can be uh tough to recognize but always being aware of what you might be receiving is the most important thing

Anthony: Yeah and just being careful on clicking those things again like you said before is going back to the original source so instead of clicking that link going back to the original website whomever it says it’s coming from and trying to get the information.

Alex: Again just to bring this full circle our clients are you know clients that typically have a higher net worth they make more money to have more of a nest egg they can be the biggest targets against scammers, they know the demographics they want to target those people with more money so they’re typically more susceptible and that’s always something we’re talking with our clients about, “Hey is this link legitimate? Is this email that I got good? I got this email from the IRS, is this legitimate?” Let me walk them through to say “Okay check these areas first.”

Anthony:  Yeah and the IRS doesn’t email you by the way so be careful of that so being aware, 1. We’re all being targeted you know scammers have your information out there. and then 2. Taking the appropriate steps to protect yourself. Especially by going back to the original source. 

Those are ways that you can help avoid scams protect your own money very important. Instead think about these things so that you can be financially successful. If you’d like to talk more with us being organized is the first step in avoiding scams and that’s the first step in financial planning. That’s what we help people with, knowing where your assets are at and where your money’s going. If you’d like to talk with us go to our website onedegreeadvisors.com you can schedule a call with us we’d love to talk to you.

Let’s get to know you better. Schedule a complimentary call with an advisor here

More Reading:  How Can I Teach My Children To Handle Money Wisely