Managing your financial accounts via mobile phone?  Watch out for scammers!

In the year 2020, over 1.3 million people complained about identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission. This is twice the amount from 2019. Protect your identity.  Cybercriminals, criminals that deal online, have a common method of operation: phishing scams.  Cybercriminals send real-looking alerts to random phone numbers. The goal is to get people to sign into a fake link and turn over their password.  The cybercriminals will then take your username, password, and e-mail address and attempt to access multiple accounts. This is why you shouldn’t use the same email address, user name, or password for multiple sites. If one site is hacked, that means you’re at risk on other sites you use.

You can set up multi-factor authentication for your accounts, but it’s best to not respond to any e-mail or text messages which state that they are urgent.  Instead, call the number on the back of your card to confirm your financial institution is trying to reach you.

The same advice applies to telephone calls. Hang up and call the number on the back of your card!

It happened to me, what now?

If you believe you’re a victim, you need to contact your financial institution (bank) immediately. Let them know there’s a problem with your account and to freeze any activity.

Report the crime to the police as soon as possible, and freeze your credit reports.

When you dispute an unauthorized charge on a bank or prepaid account, the financial institution is required to conduct a reasonable investigation.

If the investigation takes longer than 10 days, the financial institution must give you a provisional credit to the account – which can be reversed later if the investigation shows that you authorized the charge, but the burden is on the company to show that you authorized the charge.

AUTHOR: CECILLE DOAN, STAFF ATTORNEY FOR THE CENTER FOR ARKANSAS LEGAL SERVICES