3 Ways To Detect Financial Fraud

In the past year, the issue of fraud prevention and protection catapulted into the public eye following a slew of high-profile security breaches.

A staggering 110 million customer accounts were affected by the 2013 Target data breach, and around the same time, information from about 10 million accounts at Neiman Marcus was also illegally accessed and stolen.

This past April, a malicious security bug called Heartbleed bug impacted a large number of internet servers.

Fraud Is Growing, And Its Consequences Can Be Devastating

The consequences of fraud can vary. While some may have to simply replace their credit or debit cards, others may still feel the effects years later with damaged credit. Financial predators don’t need much information about you to attack, and early detection by the affected consumer is key to minimizing any potential damage.

The Technology Fix

The Personal Capital Dashboard was designed to enable you to see all of your accounts in one place. That means real time data on all transactions that occur on your accounts in an easy to monitor interface. No more remembering multiple passwords, multiple web addresses, and dealing with multiple (and sometimes clunky) user interfaces from banks and credit cards.

The great thing about the Personal Capital app is the following: the more accounts you link up, the easier it is to have a holistic view of your financial life. And with the company’s iOS and Android mobile apps, you can stay up to date on your most recent transactions no matter where you are, and detect fraud before it takes over your financial well-being.

The below is a shot of the Personal Capital cash flow tool, that lists all of your transactions – and helps with analyzing them.

In closing, here are three tips to detect fraud:

• Organize your accounts.  Try using a tool like Personal Capital, which has an award-winning app that lets you see all of your accounts in one place. Be sure to link even your least active credit cards, where it might be easier for a fraudulent transaction to slip by unnoticed.  And don’t forget to link your debit cards too. 

• Monitor transactions frequently. Use small snippets of downtime throughout the day to keep tabs on your accounts, balances, and new transactions. Any suspicious transaction can be a sign of fraud. With fraudsters testing the waters with small transactions before hitting accounts with larger fraud. You may even see transactions from retailers you often frequent, done in the hopes that they will be overlooked.

• Keep your financial institutions in the loop. You may have had the experience where your bank calls you to verify an “unusual” transaction.  Banks are also on guard for fraud; but their monitoring is not perfect. If you see something suspicious, you can be the one to to take the lead to contact your financial institution to ask them questions about potentially fraudulent transactions, rather than waiting for them to close your credit card when you are out and about.

Fraud protection: it’s just one more way new digital tools can help you live a healthier financial life.