Bank Fraud Is On The Rise — Here Are 4 Ways To Protect Your Bank Account
Bank Fraud Is On The Rise — Here Are 4 Ways To Protect Your Bank Account
Korin Miller June 3, 2021
One of the scariest things about internet fraud is knowing that someone could hack your bank account if they happen to get a hold of certain personal information. It's only natural, then, to wonder about how to protect your bank account from fraud.
Bank account fraud happens, and it can mean the difference between you keeping your hard-earned money and seeing it vanish. Bank fraud attacks increased 159 percent over the past year, according to an analysis of 12 billion global transactions over the past year by risk management platform Feedzai, making this a very real risk.
Luckily, you don't have to just hope you'll avoid getting scammed. Signing up for a password manager like LastPass Premium can help ensure that you create a strong enough password — and remember it — so that bank account fraud won't be an issue (but more on that later). Here's what you need to know about bank account scams and how to protect your account.
What Is Bank Account Fraud?
At a basic level, banking scams involve someone attempting to access your account, according to USA.gov. That's generally broken into four categories:
Overpayment Scams. This is when a scam artist sends you a counterfeit check. They then tell you to deposit it in your bank account and then wire part of the money back to them. The check is fake, and you'll have to pay your bank the amount — and you'll lose any money you wired.
Unsolicited Check Fraud. If you cash a check from a scammer that you received for no reason, you could be accidentally authorizing the purchase of goods or signing up for a loan you didn't ask for.
Automatic Withdrawals. A scammer can create automatic debits from your account to qualify you for a free trial or to collect a prize.
Phishing. This is when a scam artist sends an email asking you to verify your bank account or debit card number.
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