Avoiding Identity Theft

IDENTITY theft is the crime of obtaining a person’s personal or financial information with the sole purpose of assuming the person’s identity and carrying out financial transactions with the assumed identity. It is probably the fastest growing crime globally. Accounts are hacked and information like card details, bank account details, BVN, passwords, email addresses etc. are stolen. Online purchases are then made. In this post-COVID era, we cannot conveniently side step online shopping or having our financial information travel through cyberspace. But we can avoid being victims of cybercrime by keeping our electronic financial information and transactions safe.

Start with your device. Ensure your phone, tablet, laptop or PC has the latest version of anti-virus, spyware and malware protection. So that it will alert you if you visit a compromised webpage. Buy the best product and update it regularly. Scan your device frequently to ensure it remains secure because new spyware is being created daily.

Shop only at well known sites or the sites of vendors you can personally vouch for. You should not only vouch for their personal integrity but for their corporate governance standards that ensure they have installed the best up-to-date firewalls and protection on their websites to reduce the dangers of hacking, and that the information you input is encrypted end-to-end. They must publish this assurance visibly on their website. If this assurance is not available, you should explore other ways of payment – PayPal, Alipay, Amazon Pay, bank transfers, etc. These third parties who have invested in adequately secure payment infrastructure can collect the payment on behalf of the vendor. The vendor gets the money while you keep your information safe.

Obtain your mobile banking apps only from Google play store or Apple store. Avoid downloading apps from banks’ websites, and certainly not from third-party websites. Do not stay permanently logged in to mobile apps. Do not initiate auto-login nor allow your device to store your login details. Switch off Bluetooth when conducting financial transactions, in fact switch on Bluetooth only when needed. Keep your device itself locked when not in use, initiate auto-lock feature. Unlock it using both a PIN/ pattern and a biometric ID e.g. fingerprint. Banks too now have the biometric access option, so we can safely lock both the device and the app. Audit your bank statements regularly to fish out strange transactions.

Avoid inputting your payment card details in the presence of others, including members of your household. If you cannot guarantee continuous privacy every time you shop, you can input your card details into your Google account once. Every time you want to shop after that, Google would automatically furnish the information. It would fill in the card details but anyone looking at the device screen would see significant parts blocked out. We must treat our payment cards like we treat cash. Since we would not leave our cash lying around, we should not leave our ATM card lying around. We must not share our PIN with anyone. It is personal to your identity and should only be known by you. If you feel that your PIN has been compromised, change it immediately. Do not use an ATM with any gadget attached to it, it is probably a skimming device that copies the information of all cards inserted into the ATM. Always collect and destroy your ATM and POS receipts. Do not respond to suspicious emails, they may contain spyware that would steal financial information from your device.

Avoid using shared devices for financial transactions. If you must, clear the browsing history when you finish. Also never use free WI-FI or questionable ISPs, many are not encrypted. Instead, use the service provided by your Mobile Network Operator by using your phone as a mobile hotspot. If you must use a free WI-FI, ensure you have a good antivirus that can alert you on its insecurity.

If you suspect a breach of your data, report without delay to your financial services providers, so that your cards can be hot-listed. Cancel cards and replace. If a card has already been used, contact the vendor for help with recovery (e.g. delivery address of goods sold). Ask your bank for your recovery rights. You are not liable for transactions conducted after you report the breach to your bank. Close bank accounts if unauthorized online transactions have been conducted in them and open new ones. Use new alphanumeric passwords. Move your subscriptions and standing orders to your new account/ card. Exercise due diligence and caution in managing your information and transactions.

Electronic financial transactions are convenient and easy. Let us do our part to make them safe. Happy investing.

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Post-Lockdown Back-To-School Financing

EVERY year about this time, we discuss back-to-school financing because our children are about to commence new academic sessions and this usually brings with it heavy spending on fees, books, stationery, uniforms, materials,and accessories. This year has been a tumultuous year firstly for parents as our income sources were seriously threatened, depleted or in some cases totally dried out, secondly for children, who endured social traumas cocooned in closed places, and many were unable to get the sound academic trainings their young minds need. Thankfully, schools are resuming now and hopefully, they will be able to catch up.

We have always recommended starting early to prepare for September through target savings accounts. These accounts (in-bank, trust and insurance companies,finance houses etc.) encourage small but regular savings towards a target event; so that the financial burden is spread out and eased. Target savings accounts are also useful for other financially heavy expenses like annual rents, weddings, perinatal care etc.However, many of us may have had to dip into these savings during the lockdown. We must therefore look for other ways to reduce our current school expenses.

In previous years, many school proprietors would consider a discount if a parent has two or more children in one school. Others were willing to give discounts to parents who can afford to pay the full session (three terms) fees in September. However, schools were one of the most badly hit sectors during the lockdown. Their income sources dried up completely. Many had to put their staff on half-pay or no-pay. Therefore, it may be near impossible to expect them to offer sizeable discounts at this time; but parents should still request. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, the schools know that parents also suffered income and job losses during the lockdown.

Apart from tuition, other hefty expenses are textbooks, school- branded stationery, uniforms, sportswear etc. Parents need to consider hand-me-downs from older siblings, so long as the items being handed down are well preserved and would not cause embarrassment to the receiving child. However, some textbook publishers are frustrating the hand-me-down culture. They change pages of topics and move chapters around without changing any of the learning material in the textbook, all so that children using another edition of a book cannot flow along with their classmates. Their antics may not work in this post-COVID session. When we buy new uniforms and books, we need to label them well (not too conspicuously as to cause embarrassment) so that it can be returned to the child if lost. Backpacks, pencil cases, math sets, sandals, socks, and stationery should also be appropriately labelled.

Many parents pay for school lunches without asking if they can opt out. Packing lunch for children may seem like an additional task that parents are unwilling to add to their morning routines. But calculate the monetary gains and see if it is worth your while. Home-packed meals are usually cheaper, healthier, and fresher than school meals. Try a main dish with a small fruit and a dessert (e.g. biscuit or cake); the uniqueness would make your child very happy.

With the increased cost of petrol, car-pooling must become our culture. It does not make any sense for every family to take their car to pick up one or two children, when the cost of this pick-up can be spread thin amongst groups of families. Children who live near each other and go to schools close to each other should be organized into car-pools to save money. The necessary security clearance should be obtained from schools as required so as not to frustrate the car-pooling initiative.

The lockdown brought us fully into the e-learning age. Many children attended classes virtually using devices owned by their parents, who were also at home with them then. As schools resume, the expected trend is that teachers would continue to give assignments online and students would also submit online. Save money by not buying children top-of-the-range products to take to school. Firstly, children need to learn that getting luxury items is a result of hard work. Secondly, many of them are unable to care for these devices properly and they soon malfunction. Thirdly, a luxury item is a target for thieves – students, teachers and support staff can easily steal these devices. Therefore, it is best to buy cheaper but good and sturdy devices that would serve your children well.

We need to manage our finances creatively in this post-COVID era so that a little would go a long way. Happy investing and happy new school year.

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L.A. Consult Ltd.