How many phone calls have you received from someone telling you your car warranty has expired? I have received a lot of those calls, as well as calls from phone companies and cable companies that I do not have a relationship with. In addition to the phone calls, I am receiving text messages and emails that are disturbing, to say the least. As a former fraud specialist, I try not to let these calls or messages rattle me, but I know firsthand the capability of these scammers. I am speaking to everyone here but especially the senior citizens. Stay calm, when you get these phone calls just hang up. Do not try to one-up them by being the better “scammer” they do what they do for a living. Do not give out any information, do not ask how they got your number, just hang up and in a lot of cases, you will see that the calls from these creeps will slow down. One thing that you do not want to do is call the number back because now you are building a relationship and that is exactly what they want, now they can say you called them.
Keep your eye on all of your accounts. Check balances daily on your checking accounts, question anything you do not recognize. Create strong passwords and do not use the same password for all of your accounts. I saw a grid recently that explained how quickly certain passwords could be hacked. Here are a few tips from that spreadsheet: if you use numbers only or lowercase letters only your password can be hacked instantly, upper and lowercase letters and numbers and 10 characters it can take 7 months. It is recommended that you use numbers-, upper and lowercase letters and symbols and over 12 characters. You are probably saying to yourself how do I create something like that. Use the first letter of a sentence that you will remember. Like this: I love reading the Soul Pitt Quarterly every quarter 4 times a year!
IlrtSPQeq4tay! And there you have it a strong password with upper and lowercase letters, a special character, and over 11 characters.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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