Safeguard Yourself from Scammers

Did you know that the average amount of time it takes for the first victim to fall for a newly launched phishing scam is 82 seconds?

Scams try to trigger an immediate response by increasing stress and urgency, affecting the way your brain processes information. Pausing, even if it’s just for a minute, will allow your brain to better process the situation.

There are many different types of scams, from those that offer an unexpected financial windfall to buyer-seller fraud to threats and extortion.

Familiarizing yourself with common scams and learning to spot the warning signs are a start to avoid being the victim of a scam.

There are several other ways you can help protect yourself from scammers and identity theft, including:

• Protect your identity. Only give out your details and information where it is necessary.
• Never send your personal, credit card or online account details through an email or give them out over the phone.
• Choose passwords that would be difficult to guess and include upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols or punctuation.
• Never reply to a spam email, even to unsubscribe.
• Get a shredder and use it! Get into the habit of shredding things before throwing them out, especially things like expired credit cards, utility bills, cellphone bills, paycheque stubs, old boarding passes, ATM receipts and travel itineraries.
• Have a password-protected lock on your mobile device and avoid checking your bank accounts or doing your online shopping on a public Wi-Fi network.
• Choose a solid PIN. Avoid PINs that are derived from your personal information and change up your PIN occasionally.
• Don’t overshare on social media and make sure you’re not accidentally broadcasting sensitive information.
• Get in the habit of visiting websites directly instead of following links contained in emails.
• To verify a company identity, use a means outside of the original communication, like doing a separate web search of returning a call through a publicly listed number.

YOU play a crucial role, as arming yourself with the information you need to fight fraud will keep yourself, your family and your money safe.

If you become the victim of a scam, contact your Financial institution immediately. If possible, you should document the attempt with screenshots or recordings. Alert any companies or individuals the scam is attempting to impersonate and tell friends and family to be on the lookout for similar scam attempts.

For more tips on how to protect yourself, check out the Competition Bureau Canada Little Black Book of Scams or tune in to the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators podcast.