DON'T Miss Out That 'LOCKING' Feature!

 

Statistical data of phishing scams continue to go up unabatedly.  As per Channelnewsasia, last December alone in Singapore, at least 103 people got duped of at least US$ 122,000 after they fell prey to phishing scams involving the impersonation of banks through spoofed SMS's.  Another 750 victims did fall prey to Android malware scams first half of this .  For now, DON'T Miss Out That 'LOCKING' Feature📙📘

With scammers being many steps ahead of even the best regulators and technology experts, the least we can do is to leverage on the security functions offered by our bankers and one feature very often missed out [I'll call it 'IGNORED'] by many of us is that 'LOCK' security feature.  As every LOCKING feature is unique across banks, we won't get into specifics BUT simply put, IF you invoked that 'LOCK' feature, you are "ALMOST" guaranteed that your account is safe [take note that it's "ALMOST"!@#$?]

Just the other day, I was paying with my credit card a few items we bought in a local store but the transaction failed with the message 'CONTACT BANK' only for me to realize that I had to UNLOCK my account before that payment transaction.  BUT hold on, awhile ago, I stated that once your account is LOCKED, the security of your account is 'ALMOST' guaranteed secure BUT NOT 100% secure enough.  WHY?  Because with scammers gaining access to banking credentials and one-time passwords [OTPs] through their deceptive ways, our bank account [and that's our smartphone as well] can be literally 'TAKEN OVER', whew!@#$?

There's this misconception that FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS like Time Deposits are safe and sound?  While those accounts could have fixed maturities, we should NOT forget that that kind of account can be prematurely withdrawn!@#$?  WHAT IF that guilt-less scammer breaches your account login and proceeds to your FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNT and initiates a premature withdrawal [and NOT an account closure so as NOT to raise the highest levels of alarms]?  WHILE that breach is not a one-step transaction, once the scammer passes through the login validation + OTP, that's it, you're TOAST by then!@#$? 

Our takeaway:  Please consider choosing a banking service provider WHO offers the services of either a 'PRIVATE BANKER' [PB] or a 'RELATIONSHIP MANAGER' [RM] because with that service support structure, you can be assured that your PB or RM will personally reach out to you IF and WHEN your banker will 'SMELL BLOOD IN THE WATER'.  As your bank is your next layer of defense and protection from those unscrupulous scammers, please be curious to inquire if your prospective banker offers PB or RM services.  Bottomline is, please always keep your devices a.k.a. smartphone 100% physically and digitally secure because that's your FIRST LINE of DEFENSE!!!