Hello.
My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Order KERNI Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to Money the Podcast Millennials who want Financial Freedom.
My name is Jessica Ricky and.
Today I have a finance Queen, a Victoria Devine.
I have a juice box.
Jess I'm very excited about this, and I think everybody else should know that I have a juice box.
I'm sure everybody else is thrilled to hear that. No one cares.
Everybody who just listened to this because they were like, you know what, Oh my gosh, I've never listened to Sheese on the Money before. They would really liked to know how to protect my financial data.
They're just thinking, this is not what I signed up for.
So strap yourselves in because the entire episode is not what you signed up for. But what we will do today is talk to you about how to protect your financial data. And I mean this has come out because Optors recently, and even more recently than that, Wilworths and Telstra, just to name a few, have had massive data breaches and we thought it was really important more than ever to actually have a chat about this and bring it
to the show. It is as always a very good reminder that we need to be on guard with our personal information, and too often we just freely give it away or don't protect it in a way that we absolutely should. We are always saying Jess that we really need to protect your credit score and your bank and your superstatements and never give out your TFN and all of that information.
But today we.
Are going to give you some more practical advice and actions to make sure that you're doing what you can
to protect your precious data online. And we're going to be talking about how to actually identify scams and also what to do if you think that your data or identity has actually been stolen and recently, Jess, I know you haven't listened to them yet, but we have a few money diaries coming up where people have literally had their identity stolen and used to sign up for financial services products.
It's unfortunately common.
It's so scary to think about, and for anyone who's not up to speed, just a little quick recap on the recent events. On the twenty second of September twenty twenty two, Optus was the victim of a cyber attack that resulted in the disclosure of heaps of customers personal information, including mine.
But it was really stressful in your first.
Right, like if you were calling them up asking them what information that they had. And I mean, luckily for you, some of that information was like outdated. They had your old passports, so that wasn't going to work for anybody. Yes, but what if you just got your new passport and then just applied for a new phone, Like it's a
fickle position to be in. Yeah, the information just closed varied person to person, but it could have included people's names, date of births, emails, drivers, licenses, medicare cards, passports, all kinds of things. That they might have had on file and often said that they have contacted all current and former customers that were affected, and the Australian Federal Police are also investigating, and it's kind of an ongoing thing
at the time that we're recording this. My favorite part about that, though, Jess, in light of your next point that you're about to make, is people were jumping up and down. They're like, oh my gosh, hahaha, that's what you get. I'm with Telstra. Then what happened, Oh wow.
A few weeks later, Telstra had a smaller scale cyber attack which also exposed information of current and former employees.
So we shouldn't laugh.
It isn't actually funny, But I just think that I had so many people message me being like, oh my gosh, lucky I'm with tels draw. This never would happen with telsdred. It's something that you cannot avoid, You honestly can't.
It's really hard and it really goes to show how important it is to take steps to protect yourself because it seems like every week there are more and more breaches from all different companies. That's been Medibank and all these other places coming out recently, and I think as we move further into the digital age, it's something that is only going to continue to happen.
And we need to update things. And in response to that OPTIS breach, the government actually nominated the a Triple Sees scam Watch as the first point of contact for information about what customers can actually do to protect their information, especially online. And scam Watch also has information about the current scams that are referencing the OPTUS breach and we really really really recommend you check it out as a resource. Obviously I'll put the links in the show notes for today.
Let's start at the top. How common are cases of fraud in Australia. Unfortunately scary so the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the ABS. If you just say ABS, like we don't have those here at she's on the money, but we do have the ABS, so strap yourself in.
The scary stats are two point one million Australians, so eleven percent of Australians have experienced one or more types of personal fraud in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, not across the board, just in the one year WOW and the results showed an increase in the rate of personal fraud from eight point five percent in twenty fourteen to twenty fifteen to eleven percent in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. And I'm assuming that that is just in line with the growth of the amount of content
people disclose on social media, Jess. I was watching a TikTok the other day, which I'm honestly really good at.
It's not just a hobby anymore.
It's a future potential career path for me just to watch tiktoks. And there was this woman who basically educates people on scams and how your personal data is really easily accessible.
She's a lawyer, she's like quite legit.
She's in America, and she actually gets people to comment on her videos because people don't believe her. They're like, good luck finding where I live, and like she snaps back and says, Okay, yeah, right, scary because I had never really thought about it. But then when I started to look into some of the usernames that I've used in the past that are actually linked to my personal name, you can find my date of birth, Like, it's not actually hard to find my phone number on the internet.
Do you know what I mean, it's actually really really intimidating when you start thinking about it, because so much of this information we just really nearly add to our profiles, because like, what's better than Victoria divide ninety one is a username that's so true.
And I feel like we've all probably had a little bit of anxiety, particularly over the last couple of years, that we might have fallen victim to a data breach or to a scam or something of that nature. What should we be doing if we feel like our identity or our data has been stolen.
Look, the first step that you want to take is to obviously report the breach to your ball super fund or any type of institution that you think it has happened with sofas optis, obviously reporting it with optis and making sure that for that period of time you're just freezing your accounts. So if it is your bank, instead of being like, oh, I don't know, isn't it just freeze your accounts, you absolutely can. All you need to do is call your bank, can have a chat with them,
or have a chat with your super fund. Because the sooner that you can do it one the sooner it can be traced. But two the more likely it is that whoever has your information that's about to use it is going to be barred from doing that instead of racking up debt that you'll then have to negotiate your way out of. I would obviously change my password. I feel like this is just the stock standard list of things that everyone should do, but it's good to get
a refresher. Then be on the lookout for really suspicious emails or phone calls or text messages or dms that you get through social media, because sometimes people will bait you into giving you more information or yes, more recently, send you a message if you send this one on what I've got it a few times and it's hey, can you call me? And I reply like what is going on? And they're like, oh, I dropped my phone. This is my friend's number. Can you give me a call? Mum?
Oh I have.
It's actually wild and it's funny because you know, side note completely in our team we call each other mum at it like it's just kind of like, let's call it a term of endearment, like it just does something nice for me. I'll be like, oh, thanks mum, because she's looked after me. Yeah, and vice versa. My team call me mom all the time, and Kate, our mortgage broker, got this and genuinely thought it was me.
Oh my gosh.
They didn't say anything other than Mum, I dropped my phone.
This is it?
Can you like help me? And Kate was like, oh, it must be V like, oh, of course I'll help you. Thankfully she did not get scammed because she immediately called me and I was like, what are you talking about. She was like, so you're not being like your phone isn't drowned? And I was like, no, absolutely not. But imagine if you actually were a parent and you got that message and you had like a teenage son, and that just made sense of also would message you off
for friends phone. It's just getting so intricate that it makes me feel really icky.
To that note, and going off of your first point about reporting breaches to companies, I would also add if you get a text, even if it seems like it's from a company that you bank with. So for example, if you bank with Bendigo Bank and you get a text saying Hi, it's Bendigobank, your data has been hacked, I would be picking up the phone and calling them
from the phone number listed on their website. Because a friend of mine actually got scammed earlier this year, I think it was, And it was because she received a text from her bank, and it was in the thread that her previous bank.
Actually crazy, how deep this can go?
Yeah, And it was saying your account has been compromised. We just need you to update your password, log into your thing and update it. And it had the link to take you through and that link was obviously not legitimate and she lost I think it was like fifteen or twenty thousand dollars what and she did all the right thing that it came from her bank. It was
on the thread with her previous communications that bank. It was actually wild how I don't know how that works, but it was someone that I personally know, not just a story in wild and she's a switched on girl.
I would trust that too.
And being spoken to a few of my friends who work in the banking space, I can unequivocally say your bank will never ever ever send you a link that you need to click because they know that that's what scams look like and they're trying to train you to be able to identify that. So your bank is never going to say, oh, Jess, we'll send you the link or text you a link. Maybe they will say your password has been compromised, log into your account and change it.
But it's one of those things that a bank is actually never going to send you a link to click on or try and get you to share personal information or a text message thread. It's just not going to happen, and you are absolutely correct. The one thing I would do is just like google NAB's phone number and cool Nab immediately and go hey, I've just got this text message. They'll be able to work it out for you in
two seconds, whether that's legitimate or not. Jess, I was actually recording some money diary solo, because turns out you're allowed to have a life and go on holidays without me, which kind of seems really weird and we need to talk about that later. But the other day I was recording a money diary and it was on front of our very very beautiful community members who one has a really good story but we won't get into it, but part of her story was that her identity got stolen
when she was at UNI. She was a little bit careless with her wallet, it got lost and her identity was stolen. And the way she found out was that a policeman emailed her dad and asked for a photo of her to verify that she wasn't the person that was currently suspected of, you know, doing all of these naughty things.
Oh my good watch, that's exactly. That sounds like a scam. And I was just like, what on earth?
And she's like, no, that legitimately happened. And she was an adult when this happened. Why are you getting my dad involved? Her dad genuinely thought it was a scam and had to call the cops, and turns out it wasn't. They were just communicating with her in a very strange way. But in these times, question everything because to me, if someone in on my dad, what are you? Copper did a dabba? I'm telling my dad about some stuff I did. What if I don't even have a relationship with my dad,
what do you do email him? How did you even find his email address?
It's a great point, So, yeah, I guess the point is sometimes they are legit. So if you call in check that whoever the institution is, he's going to say, yeah, actually, we need you to update information to it here, or they're going to say, please, don't give anybody information, you're about to lose all your money.
I'm so skeptical of places that the times that my bank has called me, which you know happens sometimes I do, like normal banking and business banking. I'm so skeptical that I actually go, hey, can you give me like your number and I'll call you back, And then I google
the number, validate the number, and then I call them back. Sorry, I just you know, have had too many times where this has happened, and I know that that's a bit of like work around, but people these days are so smart they can actually call you through numbers that are not their numbers, and just I don't want to be stooged. I don't want to be in a situation like your friend where I'm missing a whole heap of cash when I could have just googled a number and kept myself safe. Yeah,
one thousand percent. What else is on your list to keep us safe? The last two things I would say is obviously be on the lookout for those suspicious emails, but then keep a really close watch on your bank account for any unauthorized transactions. It's really really common these days. I don't experience this, Jess. I know how many times a day you log into your bank account, so you're
all over this too. But do you know there are heaps of people in our community who are like, eh, I don't really check my bank I don't check my statements. I am crazy, like I check it all the time. And even with our work accounts. Someone's like, Jess, what's this And you're like, Babe, I went to Spotlight and I got Christmas decorations. I'm like, oh, that makes sense, that's nice, Like it just seemed like a really random location. And you're like, yes, I got it. While I was
driving home. I question everything better safe than sorry. I'm what Christmas decorations?
Did you get?
Those?
Were they cute? Because that's not a scam. But the other thing is you can actually call and request a temporary ban on your credit report to ensure that there are no unauthorized loans or applications made in your name, which I think so many people don't know exist. Because you know how you call your bank, can you freeze your accounts and stuff? You can actually call and get your credit paused so that no one can take a loan out in your name. I mean, you can't even
take a loan out in your name. Would definitely be temporary, but just to make sure things are safe and secure. Yeah, which is a really good idea because we've spoken about before. You know, when people take your identity, maybe they don't do something with it right away. Maybe they sit on it for a little bit and then like this money diarist that I had the other week, it took a year before the person who stole her data use it.
Yeah.
Year, And people are not very nice sometimes, And so if you put that freeze on, it gives you a little bit of protection. I feel like it also kind of gives you a bit of a trail as well, so you can be like, hey, like I took all of the appropriate actions, I did everything right. If something still happens, you know, at least you know that you've taken all the steps, and hopefully, if you have insurance or if it's through a bank or whatever, you'll be
able to rec cover whatever you lose. And at least you can show that, within your realm of power, you did everything that you could. Yeah, it also gives you a bit of time to get new documentation, Like if your passport has been stolen, you can get a new one within that period of time, or you can get a driver's license re issued, or you can get new credit cards. And it just puts you in a position where everything's on hold and you can kind of sort
your life out. Yeah all right, So what are some signs of identity thefts that we should be keeping an eye out for? Fake mustaches, good to know, the peloff kind that you twirl with your fingers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're really good ones. I also like to wear a sombrero with them for added effect. But if your identity has been stolen, it can take a little while to realize. As I said, it took twelve months before our money dirests stolen information had been used.
They literally sat on it and then waited. And I think that that's you know, you lose your wallet, nothing happens, nothing's negative, You loosen up a bit, you're not so worried, and then when it does start happening, it takes you ages to realize because you've stopped checking your bank accounts so regularly, you've stopped looking at your credit application. Why
would you it happened more than a year ago. It's not stressful anymore, but any type of unusual bills or charges that you don't recognize appearing on your bank statement. One thing that I would be really careful of is mail that you're expecting to arrive that then either doesn't arrive or it does arrive, and it just feels a little bit off. One thing that I have done recently is change all of my mail that gets sent out, so bank statements and like electricity bills all over to email,
because I feel like physical is really scary. Our money are is that you haven't listened to yet, Jess. She suspects that the person that stole her identity was swinging past her house to pick up the mail to like finish credit applications and stuff.
Wow, so creepy, so weird.
The next is that you get calls or texts about products and services that you've never actually used or engaged with, really strange emails that turn up you in your inbox, and a sudden increase in suspicious phone calls or text messages or even just messages and through social media. So there's lots of different ways, and not all of them are immediately like, hey, Jess, here's a statement for a
credit card you never applied for. It might just be really weird phone calls of being like, hey, Jess, you're short on this and you go, no, I'm not.
I definitely didn't do that.
So let's just this episode might put the fear of God into a lot of people, but I think just being vigilant is the most important thing here.
Already, we're going to go to a really quick break and when we come back, we're going to be talking tangible tips.
So don't go anywhere, guys.
Alrighty, everybody, we are back, and Victoria, I want to know your tips that people can use to help protect themselves and their financial data against attacks.
I have a laundry list. I'm excited. Right you're sitting. Are you ready? It's taking me ages to pull together because I wanted it to be as comprehensive and useful as possible, which is why it is so extensive. So if you're not ready, maybe pause, grab a cup of tea and come back. This is the time for you to be live. So first thing first, we are going to regularly check our credit reports. I say this all the time, literally, I'm obsessed with saying it.
It can be free.
You can even sign up for a free credit monitoring email that will consistently come into your inbox to make sure that you are safe and secure, so that is free and easy to do. Update your devices so cybercriminal hack devices using known weaknesses in our systems or apps means that if you update your security consistently, you're going to fix these weaknesses in your apps so that there
won't be as many breaches. I do this personally by making sure that I have automatic updates on my phone so that when my phone is beside my bed charging at night and connected to Wi Fi, it just does it so that I'm not using all of my data. Use the secure password Manager, and there are a lot of them around these days, and these will often tell you if there's been a leak of your data on the dark web or if your passwords are compromised. And also you don't need to remember any of your passwords
with this. They like auto fill, so it feels easier but it's safer.
Google did that for me recently. I got an email I was like, ninety seven of your passwords are compromise and I was like, oh my god, what.
How do you have ninety seven passwords, Jessica, I can't.
Even remember the three that all involve.
My own name.
I feel like ninety seven might be a small exaggeration, but it was a lot. I will go with it.
The next tip I've got for you is using multi factor authentication. This really annoys our team, jess you can probably agree with this one, but multi factor authentication improves your security by increasing the difficulty for cybercriminals to actually access your files or accounts. So anytime anyone banks in our office or like pays an invoice or does their job, I get a text message.
And you need the code.
So it's one of those things that for me makes me feel far more secure because I don't want to lose money, but I also don't want to be compromised. I have the same on my email and on my Facebook. I use Google Authenticator, and basically I have an app on my phone and it generates one time use codes and when I go to log in, I put my username, my password and then click signing, and then it'll go to a second page and be like, what is the
code on your authentic heidapp? And to me, that one makes me feel a lot more secure.
But do.
I just think it's smart because the more time flies, the more likely you are to be hagged or have someone trying to access your personal information. I just want to make it as hard as possible for them, you know, make them really work for it.
Jess.
Yeah.
The other thing if you don't actually have access to multi factor authentication is use a secure passphrase. So in cases where you can't use multi factor authentication, a secure passphrase can often be the only thing protecting your information and account from criminals, which is kind of scary. Then the next thing, do you do this? I feel like you've got a semi nerdy boyfriends who you might do this to use a VPN. I'm pretty sure we have one hooked up a hat. So a VPN is a
virtual private network. I have one on my phone. I have downloaded it. I actually didn't discover this for my own security, Jess. This is slightly embarrassing. The app I have is called Nord VPM, so you remember like Nord Security. It's like collegic company. Anyway, I really wanted to watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when I was in New Zealand. Recently, it's on Hulu and that wasn't actually
available in New Zealand. So when I was trying to log in and like cast it to the TV because I was obviously having a very exashing holiday watching my favorite show with the glass of wine, it was like, this isn't available in your area. So I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to ruin my entire holiday if I can't watch the show, I'm gonna have
to download this app. So did all the googling, worked it out, downloaded Nord VPN, and I could change my location so that anybody on the Internet when they're looking at my IP address don't actually get to see my real IP address, which means one I could watch whatever show I wanted, but two I'm actually far safer and more secure. And now that's how I operate across the board, which I think everybody should. It is a paid app,
but I do think it is worth it. The next tip is just to please be smarter with your social media usage. Tip it's cape personal information off social networks. Honestly terrifying. You told me about this the other day that scammers can actually find out where you leave and work through your posts. Obviously, if you're posting your workplace. But Jess, you were telling me that Instagram would actually do you tag the photo and you had automatically turned it off or something.
Yeah.
So I'm super paranoid about location specifically because Internet safety scares me. And I have my location services on my phone off because I watched this the social socialatum, Yes, the social dilemma something like that. Yeah, I watched it, and I freaked out and turned off all of my locations.
She didn't just freak out, She called me and did this. So we have each other on Find my Friends and now I have no friends. It was just a whole thing.
Yeah.
So Instagram can do it, but even just the photos within your phone do it as well, automatically if you don't turn it off. And so if you were to lose your phone, for example, I have an iPhone. I don't know if Android does this too, but if you lost your phone and you took a photo at home, that could be.
I know that if your location services are on and you can talk. Oh my gosh.
Actually I know mine are on because when I go to my albums on my phone, it has places, and yeah, I can just zoom in and say, look eighty four hundred photos.
Probably spend a lot of time there.
Oh, yes, that's literruly my house.
Yeah, so you can turn off if you go into your phone's settings, you can.
Turn off oh it's cutee some of those.
Yeah, but you can turn off your location settings holistically, or you can turn it off for specific apps as well. But yeah, you have to think a little bit bigger picture because you go, oh, I just won't post my front door, like I won't tag my local suburb. But even it's showing your local coffee shop, the DS, you know, or all of these little things that if someone is really paying attention, they can put together a pretty good picture of where you're spending time.
On what you're doing.
So it's just being super conscious about what you're putting out there because you don't know who's watching.
And I think people try to be really sneaky about this. This is something I see in our community all the time. And if you're comfortable with that, keep doing it. I never would do it though, And that's posting a picture of you putting your souled sticker up on the house that you just purchase.
I have strong feelings about this, do.
You as well?
Yeah?
Because I used to work in real estate. Do you know how easy it is?
Like the amount of people that I went to high school with that have bought houses post a photo. I've been like, well, I want to know what that house looks like, sad I founded in about five minutes.
Yeah, it's not even hard. And I'm a creep as well. Like there have been influencers who have posted their sold thing and they think that they're being really smart because they like white out the real estate agent's number and like what it is, but they leave up the description. Mate, I can just google that it's going to come up. And also even if you like rub out who it is, like, this is outing me as an absolute creep. But like,
I know yellow is ray White. Yeah, like I know what real estate agent you have gone through, and therefore I'm very likely to find it on the ray White website under recently sold. I'm just going to scroll through and be like, that's probably it because the picture will stay up anyway. I just think that that is compromising
your privacy. Steve and I when we bought our house, You'll remember this, Jess, we just got to picture outside the house, like in an area of the house that you absolutely cannot see from Mill Street, and we used a sold sticker not from the same company that we bought the house from, because I was just like, one, I have a lot of real estate friends around. I was basically like, can I have a sticker because the
other one stuck to the board. But two, I was kind of like, oh, can it not be from this particular company, because I just I don't want to compromise my privacy like that. And I mean it is, from my perspective, a little bit hypocritical as well, because I do tag local cafes and I do share a fair bit on social media, like you guys know I'm in and around Melbourne. I just I don't need you knowing
my pinpointed location. Yeah, and I think it can be really jarring, but I think we do need to be really aware of that because, as you said, Jess, if you saw someone buy a house, you're gonna google it, especially if you grew up.
With them or you knew them.
But that's just I guess a wholesome person looking something up you you just don't know who can also look it up, who might not be as kind or as just pervy as you are. Right, Yeah, Look, The next tip I've got for you guys is back up your devices and set them to regularly auto back up. I say this because you can automatically restore your files in case your device is ever hacked or lost or stolen
or damaged. I know, I have so many photos on my phone, Like I am nearly a psychoticist jest when it has to taking photos, but I would be heartbroken if they got lost. And sometimes if your device has been hacked, it just needs to be completely wiped. Like there's no opportunity to take some of the files off because they could be compromised. But if you backed up your phone, basically that device can be destroyed, it's absolutely fine.
It could be completely wiped and then you could just restore an older backup that does not have the virus or the hacking on it. The next thing is secure or shred your sensitive documents. Recently we have got our own shredder in the office with a lost shredder.
I love the shredder. I love it. I love it.
And it's not like an old school one where you get the little like you know, the strips of paper open down shred up just ben It's like confetti. Really like, good luck, good luck piecing that together.
Friends.
Yeah, I feel far safer because someone's always like, what's shredding got to do? If someone wants to steal my bank details, Like, I'm really good at puzzles, maybe I would just like put them up on the wall like I'm some kind of like true crime investigator and work out what the letter said. But no chance with my shredder. But I think that you should be shredding literally everything
that is not of use to you. So letters from your bank, super fund, or employee details, literally anything that people could use to steal your identity from my perspective, should be shared, save them in a safe location. Something that I do if I think it's really important, Like I got a letter being like, hey, here's your TFN, I take a photo of it, or I use the scanner app and upload it to my emails and file it away so I know I've got a digital copy
of it. I don't need the physical copy anymore. I feel like historically I used to just keep those things lying around Denada in this house.
The next thing.
Is be really careful with public computers and also public Wi Fi. So if you're using a public computers, like for example, at the library, you need to one make sure that you're clearing your Internet history and logging out of every single account, because that's just giving people a ticket to go and read through your emails. Yeah, but two, public Wi Fi is actually quite dangerous because they're not secured.
And if you join a network that a hacker is on, instant connection, like you're able to actually instantly connect with them. And there are some devices like Apple has a higher level of security when it comes to this stuff, and it will say do you want to share your information on this network or not when you connect. But to be honest, I really like to not use free WiFi where I can because more often than not, it's just not a good or safe idea. And I mean it's
twenty twenty two. You probably have enough data on your phone. Yeah, the Wi fi might be quicker, but it's not often that advisable. You see me do that when we travel because I used to work corporate and there was a breach that occurred because somebody.
They left their laptop somewhere. I can't remember what it was, but it was like drilled into it. So now whenever I travel, because I travel with my work laptop because we travel for me.
But I was literally like, bro, are you signing out of everything so that I can't see it? Because one time I was like, oh, Jess, can I borrow your laptop? And You're like, let me just sign out of everything. I was like, bro, I'm not going to go on your Facebook, and you're like, oh, it's not because no, like you're way smarter than me.
It was drilled into us, like anytime I take my laptop outside of the workplace, like even if we're just traveling into state, when we're traveling internationally, I will sign out of my emails, all of my personal platforms, anything that could identify the business. I do the same on my phone as well. And we also when we traveled,
we used to have to lock our devices. So like if you went on a holiday, like a personal holiday and you weren't taking your stuff, the company rule was that you had to physically lock your laptop away so that nobody could access or breach anything you were gone. Like it was crazy because they had it happened in the past where some really confidential client information got out because somebody's computer was accessed while they weren't there, and
it's really really scary. And so I know that sounds like you.
Go, who's going to look out of their Facebook when they travel?
But you're talking to me, And how many times this year have I left a laptop.
On a flight?
Literally?
Like you, you just don't know. And it's such an easy thing. And if you didn't know, most social networking platforms and like email platforms and stuff, you can log out of them remotely. So if you do lose your laptop, you can go, oh, I'm going to sign out of every device that I'm signed into and it will take it off of everything.
Because yeah, you just don't know.
And I feel like nowadays everyone is quite savvy with these things. You're, oh, there's a past word on my laptop. No one's going to guess it. It's not like it's my.
Birthday, mine's auto field.
Go, you just never know. No, we don't do that in this house. No, we're going to change that when we get off of it.
So sorry, all right.
Well, the last tip I've got in this laundry list of tips is securing your mail. So this is hot tip that I have added because I need to do it right now. There is not a lock on my mailbox, but there should be because we don't want people stealing our mail. And it baffles me that I've never thought of this personally until we decided to do this episode, and I was sitting down being like, what should be on this list? Literally, if you get a new credit card, Jess, where does it get sent?
Great point to my letterbox? Yeah, how are you protecting that?
Yeah?
I hadn't thought about that. That's real creepy, isn't it?
So? From my perspective, getting a locked mailbox so people can't steal his stuff is a top priority. And the last tip I've got in our laundry list of tips just greachy.
Now, we have done a full episode in the past on getting scammed. It's called Scamdalous, excellent name.
If I do say so.
We are genius as just thought of that. Anybody hadn't guessed.
So I definitely recommend going back and listening to that episode just to give yourself a refresher on how you can identify scams, what common scams are, things of that nature. That sounds like a very Beyonce style episode, it really does. And the thing I think I would encourage people to really consider is if you receive a communication from somewhere that might seem official, does it seem like you're being
rushed into doing something? Does it seem like you're being pressured into making a change immediately?
Scam?
I just want you to do it asap instead of like, oh, have you got time to chat? And you're like no work, They're like, no worries, I'll call you later.
Yeah.
No.
Credit companies do not want you to make a split second decision because that's a bad decision. Yeah, exactly right. So if you're feeling those things, do the vibe check, call the place, see what's up before we head out the door of v Can you tell me where can people find more resources for help if they do need them? First things first, in our show notes, we will always drop a whole heap of information pertaining to the episode that we are talking about there, so don't worry about
writing these down. But for more information on spotting scam messages, you can see the acsc's Detecting Socially Engineered Messages guidance, which is obviously linked in the show notes. And if you're concerned that your identity has been compromised or you feel like you might have been a victim of a scam, contact your bank immediately and call Idcare on one eight hundred five nine five one six zero. And then if your identity has been stolen, you can actually apply for
a Commonwealth victim certificate. And if you believe that you are a victim of cyber crime, you need to go to report cyber at cyber dot gov dot au.
Jessica, all right, that's a lot. I hope that that was helpful for the people listening. We don't mean to put the fear of God into you, but we've been doing a lot of conversations with these breaches, and like I said, I was a victim to one of them, and I totally get the anxiety, which is why we wanted to do this episode.
If you've enjoyed it and you want to talk more money, join the Facebook group.
Obviously we have what two hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and fifty thousand people.
I cannot tell you how excited I am so that I can brag to my friends that I have a quarter of a million people in my community.
That is absolutely insanity. Too many people.
Sharing tips and tricks there every single day, free of judgment, you can search She's on the Money on Facebook to find us. Facebook's not your thing. We're on Instagram to share my money, are us.
We're good at memes. Yeah, it's very cute. If you memes come on over one thousand percent. Don't forget as well.
Guys, if you've joined the episode, we would love for you to leave us a review. You can do it on Apple Podcasts, or you can give us a start. I think on Spotify now, which is fancy.
You can give stars on Spotify. I think so. I'm going to go and give myself one. Oh my gosh, all right, let's go. I appreciate you. See you next week, guys.
High The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
If you do choose to buy a financial.
Product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money shirper P T Y L T D A B N three two one six four nine two seven seven zero eight A F s L four five one two eight nine