Cyber crooks and retirement accounts

Cyber criminals today are “looking for any possible route into people’s financial transactions, and they are increasingly focusing their efforts outside financial institutions’ firewalls.

So how do they gain your information? Spear phishing is where cyber bandits send emails supposedly from a trusted sender hoping the potential victim will reveal confidential financial information. A cyber security expert says when crooks gain entry to consumer bank and retirement accounts, the point of entry more often than not is the victim’s email account. Oftentimes, people’s account passwords, obtained in data breaches and then sold on the “dark web” to cyber criminals, are used to break into an email account and take it over without the victim knowing it.

How do you protect yourself? Make sure any computer or device used to access accounts is protected by a firewall and has current antivirus and antispyware software. Be wary of responding to, opening attachments in or clicking on links in emails that ask for your financial information. Open and read any letters or paper statements from your mutual fund or money manager to see if everything looks accurate and notify them promptly if it appears unauthorized activity has taken place.

Good sources for you to check out online there’s ftc.gov/scams that’s the Federal trade Commission site. You can also go to aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.