A picture of Heather Morgan, also known as “Razzlekhan,” on a phone in front of the Bitcoin logo – Copyright AFP PEDRO PARDO
March 2022 sees Consumer Protection Week. This annual event was created with the intention of educating consumers of their rights and how to protect themselves from scams in the digital age.
National Consumer Protection Week creates an opportunity for consumers to arm themselves with information to protect and safeguard their financial well-being.
To put risks in context, in 2020 alone, taking the U.S.as an exemplar, the nation lost a record-breaking 4.2 billion dollars in online scams. Despite consumers growing increasingly familiar with these scams, millions still give in to bad actors and put their information at risk.
The cybersecurity company Lookout has provided Digital Journal with some tips that consumers can consider in order to address the threat of online scams. Such scams include misleading websites, emails, phone numbers, phone calls or text messages.
Text Scam
If you receive a ‘phishy’ text message that creates a highly urgent situation, find a way to validate the communication before tapping any links or downloading any apps.
Wi-Fi Connections
Exercise caution when using public Wi-Fi as there may be others snooping on network traffic. In particular, avoid making purchases and banking transactions—any communication that conveys a password, account number or credit card number—unless you are certain that you are on a secure…
