Part 3 Scam Avoidance: Protecting yourself after the Scam

This is 3rd part of a 3 part series in protecting yourself from on-line and of-line scams. In part 2 I discussed some ways you can avoid scams before you become a victum. In this part of the series I will outline some ways to handle yourself after the fact.

• The best security is awareness
• The psychology behind decision making
• Avoiding Scams
• Protecting yourself after the Scam
• Protect your on-line accounts
• Conclusion
• Updates: Spying on the Scammers Video
• Terms

Protecting yourself after the Scam

If you have already been a victim of an scam. The first thing to do is to stop the interaction with the attacker. If you have given the attacker access to your technology, shutdown the device and contact me for free evaluation. In most cases its safer to factory restore¹ the device than to try and target the intrusion.

Protect your on-line accounts

Change your passwords for important online accounts like your social networking, email and finical services.

Use a strong passwords, and do not use the same password for all of your important online accounts. Better yet, get to know and use a password manager. A password manager will help you create complicated passwords without having to remember them.

If you find that one or more of your accounts are repeatedly getting hacked, and your not sure where the breach is, one area that often gets overlooked is smart phone security. To find out more about security your smartphone, read my “Protecting Your Smartphone From Being Hacked” which delves into advanced 2 factor authentication methods. Many online services still use the insecure smartphone text based method, which is really a liability instead of a strength. If your thinking about purchasing an identity theft protection service, read my publication “What is Identity Theft Protection, and do you need it?“

Protect your financial information

Contact your financial institutions and let them know you have been a victim of a scam. Get your credit cards reissued

Conclusion

My goal in this publication was to attempt to make you aware of some of the common ways in which a scammer operates, but there may be other methods that are outside of its scope. When dealing with solicited requests for information, don’t be afraid to err on the side of caution. It’s better to be safe, then sorry.

If you have any questions about this publication, or you would like help with your computer’s security, contact me. I can assess your protection, and offer suggestions to improve your online safeguards.

Updates

• 2020/04/24**: There is a very interesting video called “Spying on the Scammers” that was release on Youtube in March of 2020 detailing how these scamming operations run and outlines some of the tactics they use. For anyone that wants to avoid the headache and financial loss of becoming a victim of a phone scam (or any scam for that matter), I strongly advise watching this 4 part series. Knowing how these operations run creates awareness that you wouldn’t normally have.