Protect Your Banking Information
It’s usually a first-class exercise to both supplies your records individual or through the phone . While there’s no 100% hack-evidence manner to ship your non-public financial institution records throughout the Internet, there are matters you could do to boom your protection. While it’s now no longer endorsed that you ship account facts thru text, chat, or e-mail, there are instances whilst it’s unavoidable, and the following precautions can help.
Is It Safe To Give Your Email Address Out
It would be impossible to keep your email address completely secret, according to Tonia Dudley, a strategic advisor at cybersecurity firm Cofense. There are so many things we do today that require us to , she says. We communicate with our friends and family, create accounts for social media and online retailers, and make digital transactions, among a host of other things.
That said, you should be selective about where and to whom you give your email address, experts say. Freely sharing your email can cause it to fall into the wrong hands, and you might end up being flooded with annoying marketing emailsor becoming a victim of a hacker, who can use it to carry out a wide range of harmful activities.
Set New Passwords And Pins
Once youve reported your compromised card and/or frozen your account, youll want to change the password for your online banking. Try to choose a password that youve never previously used on any website.
Youll also want to set a new debit card PIN. While its tempting to pick a PIN thats easy to remember, keep in mind this could also make it easier for a fraudster to guess. For this reason, youll want to avoid selecting PINs that are based on things such as:
- Your birthdate
- Your anniversary date
- Your Social Security number
- Your bank account or card number
And, while it may go without saying, youll also want to avoid simple patterns like 1111 or 1234. Setting a strong password and PIN is the minimum action that youll want to take to secure your account. Well provide several more security tips later in our How to Avoid Bank Account Hacking section.
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Spoof Your Email Address
In addition to sending scam emails to your account, attackers can spoof your email address to scam other people too. Heres how they do it: First, they create a forged sender address that looks like yours, making small and tough-to-spot changes, like adding a period or swapping a number with a letter. Then they use the email address to send spoof messages containing harmful malware or requests for money, according to Garry Brownrigg, founder and CEO of the security-focused content-management system QuickSilk. Because the email address looks legitimate, email spoofing allows scammers to bypass the spam filters on most email accounts.
The Accent Is On Identity Checking
What happens if my voice changes? Or I have a strong regional accent?
Siri, an automated voice recognition personal assistant introduced by Apple on its iPhone 4S back in 2011, struggled at first with regional accents. Tabloid journalists gleefully reported that one particularly salty Scottish phrase was repeated by Siri as Eurobond bank not quite the intention of the speaker.
But voice recognition services and indeed Siri have improved immeasurably. Biometrics now covers more than just the spoken word it delves deeper into how these words are articulated.
There have also been historic concerns that voice biometrics might be undermined by factors such as regional accents, background noise or people having colds, says Anthony Duffy, UK director of retail banking at Fujitsu. However, the latest iterations of such software make such concerns redundant.
Indeed, the majority of them gauge factors such as the shape of your voice box and respiratory tract they look at inflection and intonation and take into account your accent.
Its a potpourri of factors, says Bruce Bomphrey, sales and business development director at Soitron UK.
This means it will take account of regional accents and learn the way in which you speak. And if you have a heavy cold, it will compensate for those factors, by matching variables other than intonation, for example.
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Been Careless With Cheque Books Etc
Afam Nriezedi, along with his syndicate members, was arrested in 2015 by detectives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery squad of the Lagos State Police Command for hacking into Nigerian banks with the assistance of bankers and domestic servants.
To hack bank accounts, someone will bring a leaf from the cheque book of the victim to them. The leaf most times isnt signed but contains the victims account number. With the account number, details of the victims name, phone number, email, house and work address including the victims account balance can be gotten, once they contact an insider in the bank they need the information from. Getting the insider usually isnt easy but because it is a syndicate, its all about the effort and teamwork.
Their next step is to get a copy of the signature of the victim provided most times by the insider in the victims home. The cheque is taken to Mushin where the signature is forged and the amount they intend to steal is written. Most times, they dont use e-banking to transfer the money but withdraw it upfront . They never go the branch of their insider to do this.
I hope these helps.
Invest In Encryption Software
Encryption software has become widely accessible and fairly affordable these days. This software encrypts the data and activity on your computer, making it far more difficult for hackers to access your information.
There are several different types of encryption software. Some encrypt specific files, some encrypt your entire device, and some services, such as a VPN, encrypt your online activity.
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Submit A Claim If Money Was Stolen
Money can be stolen from your bank account in various ways. Sometimes the scammers move money out through bank transfers. But often they withdraw cash using an ATM card or make online or in-person purchases with compromised cards.
The latter example is how my grandmothers hackers were able to steal the money from her account. Using her personal information obtained from a data breach, they were able to pose as her over the phone and convince her bank to mail them a new debit/ATM card.
If youve lost money in your bank account due to unauthorized activity, you can submit a claim for reimbursement. The quicker you act, the lower your maximum liability under federal law. The table below shows the most you can lose depending on when you report your hacked account to your bank.
| If you report a hacked bank account | Maximum liability |
|---|---|
| Before any charges or transfer are made | $0 |
| Within 2 business days of noticing unauthorized charges or transfers | $50 |
| More than 2 business days after noticing unauthorized charges or transfers but less than 60 calendar days after receiving your account statement | $500 |
| More than 60 calendar days after receiving your account statement | Potentially unlimited |
Once youve submitted a claim, your bank will typically have up to 10 business days to resolve it. If it still needs longer to investigate, it will generally be required to issue a temporary credit to your account and to resolve the issue within 45 days.
Bank Verification Number Money Transfers
To use a victims BVN you are going to need to make use of proprietary software unique the particular bank that your victim has. Getting access to this kind of software without a connection on the inside can be difficult if not impossible but if you are able to get access to this software, you can get all of a victims information just by inputting their BVN. Once you have access to this information you can use it to change your victims pin number, commit fraud using their bank account, or even wipe their account entirely.
This is the fastest method to hack a bank account, but if you dont have an insider contact in a bank, youre better off trying one of the other processes above to find a client to scam.
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Trusting Suspicious Text Messages And Phone Calls
As you should be careful with emails, so should you also be careful with text messages and phone calls.
Text messages about your account being blocked because of your BVN and instructing you to call another number to activate phone calls from strange numbers asking you to disclose your banks details especially when you did not previously log a complaint with your bank about any issue related to what is being asked of you, amongst many others, should all be confirmed before responding to them.
Use your banks helpline and if you can, go to a nearest bank branch to confirm. The cost of not confirming is most times far more than the cost of confirming. Dont be quick to share sensitive bank details through any means, no matter how genuine it seems.
Can Someones Bank Account Be Hacked
Cyber attacks on banks happen all too frequently. Thankfully, most banks are well protected against hackers, and the threat of a cyber attack shouldnt deter you from using a financial institution. But should your hard-earned money be compromised, heres how to regain control of your account.
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Protect Your Social Security Number
Hackers only need your name and SSN to commit all kinds of identity theft including hacking your bank account, opening fraudulent credit cards, filing a fake tax return to steal your refund, and more.
For these reasons, keeping your SSN safe is a critical step towards protecting your identity. Ways to protect your SSN include keeping it in a safe place at home rather than carrying it on your person and being very careful about who you share it with.
Keep an eye out for phone or email scams asking for your SSN. Also, know that even if you give your SSN to a legitimate business or provider, youre still raising your risk of it being accessed in a data breach. If youre being asked to provide your SSN, dont be afraid to ask why and what will happen if you say no.
Finally, you may want to sign up for an identity theft protection service that can alert you whenever your SSN is used online or is found on the dark web. See our breakdown of the best identity theft protection services.
When Use Your Bank Account And Routing Number To Send You Money
If one has your checking account details and unique id, they may send money into the account. In case the person has these two items, they will have the ability to carry out the transfer of funds successfully.
Accepting funds should be a problem if you expect cash from anyone or are on a bank transfer plan. Even so, you can find enormous sums in your checking account. Once this occurs, you must call your lender to find where the money came from.
Someone is likely trying to set you up for illicit behavior such as financial fraud if you find huge sums of money in your checking account.
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Why Would A Scammer Want Your Email Address
These days, our email inboxes contain a jackpot of information about us that scammers can use. Most consumers have one email account they use for everything: emailing their doctor, receiving alerts from their financial institution, or possibly large financial transactions, such as buying or selling a home, Dudley says. Hackers can use your email address to send phishing email attacks and acquire valuable informationincluding your log-in credentials and financial infothat allows them to commit other crimes, like identity theft.
Can Someone Use My Account Number And Routing Number To Make A Withdrawal
Perhaps youre thinking about how someone with my account number and routing number could steal money from my bank account. As mentioned previously, there are ways for a person to steal funds in your account: ACH deals and scam checks.
Thus, the response is YES scammers can use these methods to withdraw your money. These are significant crimes, so most criminals target business bank accounts that carry more cash. Since they often have lesser security safeguards, fraudsters are increasingly targeting little and moderate enterprises and individual account users.
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How To Hack Credit Cards With Pos
If you have a POS device, you can get payments from a credit card. Considering the contactless technology that replaces the normal chip, you can potentially get payment from a card that is close enough without even touching it.
There are several demo of hackers going with a POS in a densely packed underground train and hovering with the POS near the wallet of unaware individuals. This method works, and you should be aware of it.
It is worth noting that this only works for small transactions, as with bigger ones the PIN code will be required. Furthermore, you cannot craft a do it yourself POS, because in order for the POS to work it must contains certificate keys from the credit card network. All in all, when you have a POS you receive a digital certificate from the credit card network that identifies you, and you only. You cannot create this certificate by yourself, so the credit card networks is 100% sure who is making the charge.
Thus, as a hacker, you may get by a few days with this method. Since you are fully identified and tracked, eventually police will come knocking. Because of this, this is not actually a significant method that may jeopardize your finances, you are relatively safe. Furthermore, banks are now implementing SMS whenever a transaction is made to warn you, and you can also have a shielded wallet that blocks contactless signal. If you activate the SMS and get the wallet, you are pretty safe.
What You Can Do To Protect Your Phone Number
Just like you can apply two-factor authentication to your online accounts, you can add a secondary security code to your cell phone account, too.
You can either call up customer services or do it online. You can ask customer service, for example, to set a secondary password on your account to ensure that only you the account holder can make any changes to the account or port out your number.
Every carrier handles secondary security codes differently. You may be limited in your password, passcode or passphrase, but try to make it more than four to six digits. And make sure you keep a backup of the code!
For the major carriers:
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Can Someone Hack Bank Account With Phone Number
Assuming you have your strong passwords in place and your two-factor authentication set up, you think your accounts are now safe? Think again. Theres much more to be done.
You might think your Social Security or bank account numbers are the most sensitive digits in your life. Nowadays, hackers can do far more damage with little effort using just your cell phone number. But unlike your Social Security number, youre far less likely to keep your cell phone number a secret otherwise nobody can contact you!
Whether youre an AT& T, Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile customer, every cell phone number can be a target for hackers. And it takes remarkably little effort to wreak havoc to your online life.
Can Someone Hack Your Bank Account With Account Number And Routing Number
Did you know that your bank account number is much more than just a random set of numbers? Instead, its an access code that can access different services and features from your financial institution. In other words, if someone knows your bank account number, they can access other things like your internet banking, mobile banking, or even credit card services. While this seems like something out of a movie plot, its true. The bad thing is that many criminals know this too. Lets find out, can someone hack your bank account with account number and routing number?
Therefore, they are always looking for people with open bank accounts who might be ripe for the picking. Luckily, there are ways that you can keep your personal information safe from hackers. Read on to learn more about how someone can hack your bank account with just an access code and routing number.
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Eric Kraus Vice President Of Fraud Risk And Compliance Solutions At Fis A Fintech Company:
- In addition to downloading only verified apps from Apples App Store or Google Play, read reviews of apps before downloading them. If a couple of consumers downloaded an app and had a malicious experience, they write about it in the review, Kraus says.
- Consider getting mobile security software, which is designed to protect your personal information and prevent viruses and malware.
- Signs something may be amiss include increased data use and a devices battery draining more rapidly than usual. That can indicate something is silently running in the background, Kraus says. Be actively involved in monitoring data and battery usage.
- Avoid clicking on adware popups. Thats a popular way that fraudsters love to embed malware, Kraus says. Dont be overly zealous clicking into less than scrupulous apps and ads that are being pushed to you and popping up.
- Limit sharing too much of your personal information on social media. Everyone wants to tell everyone in the world about every little personal thing in their life, he says. Be cognizant of not oversharing. The more of your personal data a hacker has, the greater likelihood they can use that information to get into your account.
- Consider using a Virtual Private Network on your computer to shield you from password pickpockets, but avoid those that are free because they may not protect you at all. VPNs can be very effective, says Kraus. Theyre not expensive, and not hard to set up at your home.