Avoiding Online Scams: A Guide By Raghib Khan’s Phonato Studios
The recent upsurge in scams and fraud in the digital world is worrying, to say the least. Given that it can lead to losses worth millions of dollars and also spur consumer distrust, businesses are now taking scam prevention seriously.
However, as noted by Raghib Khan’s team at Phonato Studios, consumers can fall prey to insidious fraudulent activities of threat actors if they are not careful with their personal data and banking information. With cashless transactions and digital interactions becoming the norm, what can consumers do to ensure their financial security? Let’s have a look:
- Don’t download applications from unverified sources
Applications that are found on major app stores have to pass through stringent security checks and follow a wide range of safety protocols in order to be approved for publication. This is not the case when it comes to sideloading. In fact, apps from unverified sources may be infected with malware designed to snoop into your personal data. To avoid falling prey to the malicious intentions of fraudsters and spammers, stay away from applications that don’t seem genuine.
- Be wary of spammy emails
Fraudsters often impersonate banking or government officials to trick you into divulging your personal information. This is one of the most common ways through which they conduct identity thefts.
Banks and government officials do not send spammy emails full of grammatical errors to ask for your financial information, especially if there has been no prior contact. In fact, asking for credit card details and social security numbers go against their cyber hygiene practices. If you get such a spammy email, do not click on links as they might take you to duplicate websites designed specifically to copy your sensitive data.
- Hide your password
Password security is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of keeping yourself safe in digital spaces. As a rule of thumb, do not attempt to access your accounts through unsecured public networks as it may expose you to hacking attempts. It would be an excellent idea to tweak your passwords on a regular basis and include a nice blend of special characters, letters, and numbers. Now that most of us have accounts on numerous websites that serve a wide range of purposes, extra caution must be taken to ensure that different passwords are used for critical ones that grant you direct access to your card details.
- Embrace anti-spyware software
If you haven’t installed antivirus software on your system already, now is the time to do it. It will keep you safe from the continuous attempts made by fraudsters to infect your device. At the same time, updating your anti-spam software program and firewalls will go a long way in keeping spammers at bay and shunning unauthorized access.