With the upcoming holidays arriving, people are becoming more desperate to buy the perfect gift for their loved ones. While most possess the financial means to do that, others do not. Instead, these financially-crippled individuals are forced to get a little creative. This creativity is often used to construct homemade gifts or buy cheap things with sentiment. However, there are others who use this spark of creativity to find new and innovative ways to still buy things with money – they just use your money instead of theirs.
Use these helpful tips to help protect what is yours. Or, you could not do these things and embrace the Christmas spirit of giving. I mean, come on, feel the love.
If a company calls and asks for personal information, debit card numbers, or anything of the sort, politely hang up, look up their phone number (without using caller ID), and call them back. This ensures that you are talking to the company and not an impersonator. If the person you are talking to warns against hanging up because this deal will not be available if you call back or presses you harder for payment, hang up faster.
If you receive an email with a link to a website asking for your login credentials, DO NOT FOLLOW THE LINK. The link may lead to an impostor website, designed to trick people into entering passwords for online banking, email, etc.
Go to your browser, type in a known web address, and log in from there.
If you are buying something from another person on Craigslist, do not pay until you are standing in front of the item and know it's real. Sounds like an obvious one, but you would be surprised how many people fall for the “wire me money now so that no one else buys it” trick. Sometimes you have to just pass one up.
When your cashier asks you, “Credit or Debit?” be sure you reply with “Credit.” Running your card as credit lets you avoid having to enter your pin. Each time you enter your pin, you are giving someone the chance to shoulder surf and steal it. Better to sign for credit instead.
When ordering checks, use abbreviations for your name. If your name is “Lionel Peanut”, purchase checks that print your name as “L. Peanut”. That way, when a total stranger steals your checkbook, they do not have your full name. Thieves will assume that you sign your name “L. Peanut”. Trust me when I say things like this make it much easier for a Teller to detect a forged signature.