I was talking to some friends last week. They graduated a few years ago. They have common sense and are very logical. This is the case for most of their friends too, yet lots of them feel very confused and ignorant about how to manage their finances, how things like the fiscal year affects them, why they should save and so on.
This is something they were not taught in secondary/high school and unless you tell me otherwise, the syllabus has not changed. Thus many young adults go to Uni and have no idea how to manage their money, limit how much debt they accumulate & as a result, get very stressed. So I’m going to try and answer some questions in separate blogs.
This post is about preventing being the victim of a phishing scam. If you want more info on what phishing is read another post I posted recently.
Phishing
Treat all email with suspicion – What you see in the email body can be forged, the sender’s address or return address can be forged and the email header can also be manipulated to disguise its true origin
Never use a link in an email to get to any web page. If you must go there, type the URL directly into your browser’s address bar
Never send personal or financial information to any one via email
Regularly log into your online accounts – don’t leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
Scrutinise your bank, credit and debit card satements and ensure that all transactions are legitimate. If anything is suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers
Ensure that all of your software is up to date – for instance, if you use Microsoft’s Windows, run Windows Update every day when you first connect to the internet. If you use other operating systems or browsers then check daily for patches or updates. Security loop holes are regularly discovered in software and many of these scams have utilised a vulnerability in Internet Explorer
If you must use your financial information online, ensure that you have adequate insurance against fraud
