How to Avoid Common Financial Scams

Financial scams are pretty common these days. With the advancement in methods of financial transactions, the scammers are becoming creative, too.

For instance, with a simple OTP, they can empty your entire bank balance. From phone calls to big and fancy ponzi schemes, scammers are everywhere.  

In the last 3 years itself, around 42% Indian investors have faced the consequences of financial scams.

What’s more surprising is that almost 70% of these investors failed to get their money back. 

Therefore, it is important to protect your finances against these scams.

Especially when everyone is focussing on not just earning money but also growing it through investments, the exposure to scams has risen manyfolds.

These facts about scammers are unnerving, and the fear of possibility of this happening with you is no less scary. 

But, there is a solution for everything- you can definitely prevent scams from compromising your accounts. How? Check out the points below! 

Tips to prevent common financial scams 

Regularly review all your accounts 
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To prevent scams, it is important to be aware of your finances first.

Make a habit of regularly taking an update of your bank accounts, credit card statements, etc. to ensure no unauthorised charges. 

To simplify the process, download the relevant app of your bank and stay updated about all the credit and debit amounts.

Every bank now has its own verified app, which will assist you in almost anything related to your account.

You can even turn on or off your online banking, UPI payments, e-commerce accessibility, etc. 

This is the easiest way to catch any fraudulent transaction, so get started right away!

Maintain strong passwords/pins and change them regularly 

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Whenever you set a password, there are always some suggestions given to make it strong and make use of them.

For sensitive accounts, change the passwords regularly.

Avoid using your birthdate, year, name of pet, etc. while setting a password.

Also, never ever use the same password for multiple accounts - you will just make things easier for hackers and scammers.

Have one unique password for each account and make efficient use of numbers, symbols, alphabets, etc. 

If you have a problem remembering passwords, well, the only good option is to write them down somewhere - at a very safe place.

Avoid putting them in your phone’s notes or your wallet as these are very obvious places. 
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Use only certified & verified online financial platforms 
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Nowadays, from saving to investing, everything can be done online.

Regular payments through UPI have especially become very popular.

However, it is important for you to make sure that the app or platform that you are using is safe and verified.

Use only the secured places for transactions. 

Remember that you do not need to share OTP to receive or any payment.

If someone is asking you anything like that, beware - it might be a scam.

Also, you must have frequently heard warnings from banks and government authorities regarding sensitive information disclosures.

Make a note of them and do not share anything denied by these disclaimers.

Government authorities of banks won’t ever initiate contact with you through any social media or simple text just to ask for personal information - keep this in mind. 

Also, phishing is a pretty common method of scamming these days, and a lot of it happens through emails.

So, if you get an email- namely from your bank- asking you to share information or a link to ‘update your details’, do not trust them.

When you’ll check the email ID, you’ll find weird names attached to it- making it very easy to catch fraud only if you are attentive enough. 
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Beware of over-the-board high-end deals and fin communications
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If you are an investor, it is no wonder that you would have come across a very high-end deal at least once, which usually ends up being nothing but fraud.

Keep reminding yourself that as an investor, if a deal seems too-good-to-be-true, then it probably is a fraud. 

Do not touch weird links or share any of your personal information before researching the intermediary first. Also, if you invest through some expert, run a proper background check first. 
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Keep track of your credit card reports 
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If you can not review your credit card details monthly, try to do them at least quarterly.

Download your credit report and make sure that every information is up to date and all your accounts are accurate - no unauthorised transactions.

Also, when you are getting your report downloaded online, remember that you don't need to pay any fee for that. 
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Conclusion 
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Financial scams have become frequent these days. But with proper precautions, you can avoid them.

Along with following the above-mentioned tips, you must always stay cautious about any sensitive information relating to your accounts, etc. 

For instance, say you are disposing of some old papers, bank statements, passbooks, etc., that might contain information like your account number and personal identification numbers, then you must shred the pages properly.

With just these simple hacks, you can secure your finances from big frau