Personal fraud protection is education, and knowing what defensive steps prevent fraud from happening to you.By creating your own defensive plan before you get ripped off, you are reducing your chances of getting caught up in a scam and improving your own personal fraud protection.
Be Your Own Personal Fraud Protection
You need to realize that people can be impostors. They very well can be fake!
Ask yourself “Is this person really who they say they are?” Whether it is a service person or bank manager, or even CEO of some corporation, you need to find out if they are the real deal.
By doing so before hand, you are your own personal fraud protection.
Payment Requests By Mail
It is highly unlikely that a bank or utility company, or anyone else for that matter, will ask you for a payment.
They will contact you by mail, and send a late notice,but not online or by email.
Companies will give you a number to call to verify account numbers, or status of your account. Banks do not call or email you to verify account numbers or ask for payments, ..period.
Even if they tell you they are a manager, or some executive, it is important to c
heck them out.
Before you agree to send any payment, call the numbers posted on the companies official website.
Inquire about the person you talked to and ask whether the reason they called is legitimate or not.
Beware of Changes to Your Accounts
Do not accept changes to your account by email only! Double check to see if your bank, or any other company or service, whoever it might be has recommended these changes to your account. Use their standard phone numbers to their customer service,or billing dept.
Go through a completely different dept to be sure, check with account services about a billing question, get names, and verify, be diligent and persistent.Remember, you are your personal fraud protection.Be smart.
Never Use Numbers That Have Been Sent to You
The latest scams use fear of missed payments,or account mistakes,or financial problems with you credit or debit cards. Then they give a number to call or a link for you to use to contact them(the scammers) to explain the problem.
One such scam involved emails being sent out to utilities customers telling them their accounts were past due.
Then the customers were instructed to make immediate payments over the phone.
The 
scammers claimed they were actual city officials calling on behalf of the city, and asked customers to send payments using prepaid debit cards.
Operating under the guise of city officials made their claims sound official.
But in reality, the money went directly to the scammers.
Be smart, verify first! Call and ask about it, using official phone numbers, and real website links. You can not and should not send any money unless you are absolutely sure people are not fakes!
Technology today enables these crooks to build fake sites that look like the real thing! Go in person if at all possible!
Always check your financial accounts frequently
Check your financial records as often as you can, even daily if possible. This way you can spot any fraudulent activity as soon as possible, making disputes and recovery more likely.
Look for any unlikely charges, or items you never purchased, withdrawals you never made, or checks you never cashed.
Any different number or checks out of sequence, or made out to cash in an amount that you wouldn’t normally write or didn’t even write at all. This is a big read flag!
Phishing Emails
Here is another type of scam, you get an email and it asks you to verify y
our account, and click the link below. These are Phishing Emails
Never click on any links unless you are absolutely sure it is a legitimate link!
If the email says something like ..login in using your password to verify it is you.
DON’T DO IT!
This is how crooks steal your password!
Sometimes, they use the reason that “your account has been compromised” or hacked.
This is one of the most common frauds today. Beware and be safe!
Fake websites
Sometimes they use fake websites that look like a paypal or ebay site, and give a link to use.
Fake and unsecured links have no(s) like this http.//.Financial website use secure links that look like this https.//. Always be skeptical,and verify before any payment is made.Make sure you see the green lock on all your financial sites!
Just doing that may very well keep you from losing your money to the scammers and crooks.If it looks fake or suspicious and sounds a little fishy,it usually is.
You are capable of being your own personal fraud protection. And, it is not as hard as you might think. It takes a little time and attention to details, but could pay off big time.
To read more about common scams and how to protect yourself, go to the FBI.gov/scams and safety website
If you have any questions or just like what you read, Please leave a comment!
Thank You!
Chas
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I have often wondered how I can fight to get my money back from the wicked pocket of a fraudster. My bank account was ones compromised by an impostor organization. I was able to find out because I had my bank account email connected directly to my android phone and I was vigilant and persistent in cross-checking my emails especial ones that affect my financial life. I called the bank immediately and had my credit card blocked instantly. You rightly said we are our own “personal fraud protection”.
It is also good we do well to contact our banks for confirmation before carrying out a financial instruction received from an email or an unsuspected phone call. Being careful in clicking any link from an email is also key.
Thanks for the eye-opening article.
Hi Childking88,
If you are here in the United States, you can always use my checklist if you ever need more help! I am glad to hear you foiled the scam attempt so quickly, good for you! Yep, calling your bank or credit card company is your first line of defense! It works very well when you do it promptly! Always avoid clicking any links in you emails, unless you are absolutely sure they are legitimate. It is better to call the party first, and ask if they sent the email!
Thanks for leaving a comment,
Chas
Thank you for sharing this great information about personal fraud protection.You have explained how to protect ourselves very well in your article. Thank you, I can use this knowledge in the future.
Last month, I was victim of a scam. I was trying to get help with my PayPal account and I ended been scammed. Maybe it was my own fault and caused by my own mistake. But, this website looked so real, that I ended up falling into their trap, and lost a lot of money.
Like you mentioned, this site seemed to be the real deal, but they were not. So, people need to be careful about these site fake websites. Thank God, people like you are trying to warn people of these scams, and others will be kept safe.
Hopefully people get more aware and become more careful about these people. I will be returning to your site to read many more articles. Thank you for all your help!
Hi GVporras,
You are welcome and I am glad you liked it and found it useful! I am sorry to hear you were scammed. If you are in the United States, you can use my checklist, and fight to get your money back! I will continue to produce more content for helping others with scams, please come back!
Thank you for your comment,
Chas
I am my own personal fraud protection. I have had some experiences as regards fraudsters and I never gave them listening ears. Some of these scammers sent me series of text messages demanding for ATM card details. They claimed that they are from my bank and I should quickly forward my bank details so they could help rectify the issue I have with my bank.
Fraudsters are smart and they employ so many strategies to lure innocent people into this shit of waisting and destroying their resources. I can never be a victim to them.
Hi Kenechi,
You have gotten the idea for sure, yes you are you own personal fraud protection! Always be on alert and wonder why does identity theft happen? What will cause my information to be used without my knowledge? If you do that, you will be safer in everything you do. Always remember, some of the largest data breaches have not notified anyone, so your personal information may be compromised and you may not even know it. Always check to be safe!
Thanks for your comment,
Chas
This article is full of information that everybody should be familiar with. I loved your explanation on financial sites and having the green lock.
Providing other links is great, giving me a place to further enhance my knowledge.
Thank you for writing this article and I will be sending others to read and learn.
Ken
Hi Ken,
I am glad you found the information helpful. The green lock is a must before you enter any of your financial data in any website. If you want more information, here is a link to more Identity Theft protection advice. I hope you come back again and read more articles here!
Thanks for the comment,
Chas
Thanks for writing this important article and I must say its a must for everyone to read and digest. Frauds are everywhere and your methods in this article have shown many ways to avoid frauds.Thank you for making this known to us and helping us stay away from frauds.
Fraudsters have no future and their thinking capacity is very low, all they know is to acquire wealth by all means. Thanks for the vital information about frauds. This article has reshaped my thinking.
Hi Adamu2,
You are welcome! I sincerely hope I have helped people to beware of the things we do to get ourselves into them traps of scams. if we try to inform others as much as we can, the crooks will have a harder time tricking us.Be safe!
Thanks for the comment,
Chas
Thanks for sharing this valuable and helpful information on how to prevent ourselves from scams. I agree with you on the tricks being used by scammers to rip-off people’s hard earned money. They pretend to be managers of companies or banks to get personal information on credit cards via phone call or email or text messages. My friend was almost a victim of this. However, he spoke with me first to ask how genuine it could be. After we talked it over we concluded it was a scam. All the ways of avoiding scam and fraud in this article are excellent and informative. Good job man.
Hi Fortune,
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you can use your own personal fraud prevention to avoid a scam in your future. It is a great idea to confide in a friend and let them help you decide if something is a scam or not. If it promises instant riches, it is a scam for sure.
Thanks for the comment,
Chas
Great tips for self-fraud prevention.
As I was reading your article, I immediately identified with the utilities fraud scam. I kept getting emails and phone text saying my water bill was overdue, and what was worrying was that with each week, they increased it slightly to say I’m incurring unnecessary penalties by delaying payment and that my water bill has now reached $900. Prudently, I did not use any of the links or phone numbers the scam gave me. Instead, I googled for my actual utility company’s contact, called them to clarify, and found out everything was okay.
I believe articles like yours ought to be popping up all over the place to warn/remind surfers of the dangers out there. I hope you continue to post each new scam as you come across.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Cath,
Thank you for your kind words, they are appreciated.I don’t get compensation for the articles, and research that goes into the site, that is why I have ads for affiliate programs. it helps pay the bills. I am glad to hear stories like yours where people are not fooled by these scams. You did the right thing to check with your utility company,Good for you!
Actually, the articles are starting to show on the first page of google’s search engine, and some companies like Vibrant Web have become silent. I hope they are out of business, but more likely they just operate as some other scam company. I will definitely keep reporting as many scams as I possibly can.
Thanks for leaving a comment,
Chas
Thanks for this informative and educative post on personal fraud protection, I honestly appreciate your selfless effort in putting this information together.Your post is filled with a lot of information that is going to help out in solving problems with online theft. I will surely be able to use these tips to avoid having my personal information stolen. you have a plan for us to follow. Thank you.
Hi Seun,
You are welcome. I am humbled with your kind words. i want to help other avoid the scam and pitfalls I have fallen into. If enough people are given the tools to avoid Identity Theft, then I have done my job. Please let me know if these tips help you avoid any traps.
Thanks for your comment,
Chas
Thank you so much for these tips on how to take steps to ensure personal fraud protection. So many times we leave the protection of our finances, investments,identity or information to a secondary party. But we forget that we are supposed to be our own personal fraud protection. Especially, in this digital age when we are increasingly leaving and living our lives online. We have become more vulnerable to unscrupulous elements. Therefore, our protection must be primarily at our feet.
Hi Vapz,
You are welcome. It is more important than ever to be careful of everything we say and do, online and off. We give out too much data in places where it is not protected. Social sites are the playground of the thieves looking for clues about your family, names, dates, and places are clues to your password protection questions!
Thanks for your comment!
Chas
Great post! I really appreciate people like you who are into educating people for their own good. Learned a lot from your post. I have been caught in a scam 1 year back and I lost a ton of money. It was depressing (sigh)! Now, thanks to your article, I can see why I got scammed in the first place! I like how you have given warning signals for each kind of scam. I look forward to hearing more advice from your site!
Thanks for sharing! Keep the great articles coming!
Hi Shashwat,
Thank you! I am glad you learned some new skills to use. You can learn even more tips if you check out my list of Scams, Cons and Frauds. We learn from our mistakes, I too have been scammed as well. I want to help others avoid the same pitfalls! I will certainly do my best to bring as much helpful information to my readers as I can!
Thanks for leaving a comment,
Chas
Hello, your article is very helpful to me. There is an increased rate in frauds and scammers almost daily now. There is a need to keep upgrading our personal fraud protection skills as the days pass by. You have educated us on the tools available to use in handling both our emails and other utility bills.
It has gotten to the extent that banks do warn their customers about unsolicited mails that are being sent on daily basis from these scammers.So, this information is valuable and important for us to remember.
Thanks for the great tips you listed on the best ways to protect ourselves from fraud. Especially, the emphasis on always checking one’s financial accounts frequently is great advice. Doing this will help everyone recognize the warning signs of suspicious activity in his/her account.
Thanks again!
Hi Gracen,
I am glad the article was useful for you! For more help, check out my list of Scams, Cons and Frauds
We must always be aware of what we say as well as any suspicious behavior in our bills or financial accounts.
Thanks for leaving a comment!
Chas