Tips for Fraud Prevention and Best Practices

Follow these tips to help protect yourself from fraudsters.

• Review your account statement often (at least monthly) and report unauthorized transactions immediately.
• Report a lost or stolen debit card immediately.
• Do not share your debit card number, PIN, or any personal or financial information through an email, online chat, or unsolicited phone call, email, text, or social media site.
• Only use ATMs that you trust (those associated with a financial institution).
• Consider using credits cards for online and large dollar purchases.
• Consider adding your debit card to a mobile wallet, which you use for online purchases, and use your mobile device for in-person transactions, when possible, instead of your debit card.
• Do not insert your debit card at a gas pump.
• Treat your debit card as you would cash.
• Fraudsters are able to mimic phone numbers, so be aware.
• When talking on your cell phone or public phone, be aware of eavesdropping and do not share any passwords, account numbers or other personal information out loud.
• Be aware of poorly written text messages. Fraudulent texts often have incorrect grammar or typos.
• Be wary of emails, especially if they are unexpected or from untrusted sources. Fraudsters can mimic logos, colors, images and other recognizable and familiar information. Never click on attachments and links in suspicious emails, as these can install malware that takes information from your phone or computer.

We strongly recommend that you regularly monitor your accounts and remain vigilant against cyber criminals and fraudsters. If you suspect any fraudulent transactions or believe you’ve received a suspicious call, email, or text, please call Tech CU immediately at (800) 553-0880.

Tips to Improve Your Passwords

The vast majority of security breaches are based on using weak or reused passwords. Fortunately, there are a number of simple steps you can take to improve your passwords and increase your online safety.

A Gartner report noted most user-generated passwords can be guessed by a computer in less than an hour, only 30% of people change their passwords on a regular basis, and 60% of people reuse the same password on multiple sites.

Prevent fraud by creating a unique password that you use only for your bank account – and nowhere else.

While it may sound counterintuitive, the most important parameter of a password isn’t only how strong it is, but that the password is not the same across multiple accounts. Why? Using the same password for multiple online accounts allows cybercriminals to more easily access your other accounts that share the same password.

Make your password complex.

In general, passwords should contain at least 8 characters and use a combination of numbers, special characters, and upper/lower case letters.

When it comes to passwords, passphrases are your friend.

A passphrase typically contains a phrase or sentence, instead of a single word. When choosing a passphrase, choose something that is unique, easy to remember, and not easy to guess. For example, if you frequently forget to put your receipt in the grocery bag you may come up with a passphrase such as ReceiptInBagWithHasteYay!45 or if you really like to be outside, you may come up with a passphrase like TheGrassIsGreenInPlot874.

When updating your passwords, don’t use a small variation of a previously created password.

If your password is RedDelta, don’t change it to RedDelta1. Why? Cybercriminals have tools available to help them figure out password variations.

When creating another, unique password feels impossible – use a password generator.

Password managers like 1Password or LastPass, both will generate unique and difficult to guess passwords on your behalf.