Holiday Crime

The holiday season is also prime cybercrime season
– Cybercrime ALWAYS increases sharply between Black Friday and Christmas, with hackers taking advantage of all the extra traffic to try and steal your valuable information.
– Make sure any shopping website you use includes “https” in the URL address, as that extra “s” stands for “secure” and ensures that any data routed through the site has an extra layer of security added to it.
– Use credit cards instead of debit cards. Credit cards offer extra layers of fraud monitoring and dispute procedures. Think of using a debit card as using cash and if you are scammed then the chances are you will not be able to get that money back.
– Monitor your bank account, your email, and social media accounts DAILY for any unusual activity because hacks can happen anytime and anywhere. Maybe make this a part of your regular morning routine while sipping on that coffee.
– Never click on any too-good-to-be-true ads, especially popups, because they will inevitably lead you to some illicit external site that attempts to install malware or other viruses on your device.

– Sign up for text and email notifications whenever your credit card is used. This way you can instantaneously monitor the activity on your credit card. Every major bank offers this type of notification service so if you are not already signed up to receive these notifications then now is as good a time as ever.