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Established in 2000 by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), International Fraud Awareness Week is a time dedicated to promoting fraud awareness and education.

Here’s a breakdown of some common types of fraud to watch out for:

Account Takeover – Account takeover (ATO) fraud occurs when a cybercriminal takes over another person’s legitimate online accounts without permission. It can involve stealing banking and credit card information, email accounts, or other sensitive data such as social media logins.

Phishing/Social Engineering – Phishing and Social Engineering scams are manipulation techniques that aim to trick an individual into giving up their sensitive data. This data can include passwords, social security numbers, bank records, or other personal or private information. The request usually appears to be from a familiar person, organization, or company and often contains links to malicious websites.

Check Fraud – While not as common, check fraud happens when a scammer knowingly writes a bad check, alters a check, or fraudulently forges a check. If your checks are not stored in a secure location, they can be stolen by burglars, service workers, and even trusted houseguests, or even straight from your mailbox.

Card Fraud – Have you ever stumbled upon a website you’ve never shopped at before that has deals that seem too good to be true? Scammers will set up a legitimate looking website in hopes of capturing your credit card information at check-out if you try to make a purchase.Impersonation – Impersonation scams are a type of fraud initiated by a person who pretends to be someone you can trust to get your sensitive data. These scams may target an individual or seek to capture sensitive information about a company. They are often elaborate and may target you via email, text messages, social media, or phone calls.

Identity Theft – Identity theft happens when someone other than you uses your personal information to impersonate, and often steal from you. This personal information can include your Social Security number, bank account or credit card information, and even physical identification like your mail, driver’s license, or passport.

Now that you understand these common types of fraud, here are some ways you can protect yourself from falling victim to these scams:

Fraud Prevention Tips:

Use strong, unique passwords and leverage multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Instead of following the links in an email or text message, contact companies or people using a phone number or website you know is real.

Don’t open attachments or click on links if you don’t know the sender or you didn’t request the information.

Make sure your devices are up to date from a security standpoint and have anti-virus protection installed.

Always mail checks using a secure envelope, and whenever possible hand the envelope directly to your mail carrier or drop it in a secure location or mail processing facility.

courtesy- DCU newsletter.

Black Friday shopping has become a tradition like Thanksgiving dinner. This year Black Friday is not too far away and many big stores started advertising online about their offers. Many families really plan to get the best out of the Black Friday sale. They spend almost a month to gather all deals data and try to appoint members to go each different location or website to shop and get the best deals.

I used to do that as well, standing in lines early in the morning at almost 50 degrees to buy a laptop or small gadget or bike for my son to save few bucks. I don’t do that anymore but I do go check out things on the Black Friday to really see whether they are really super deals like they say.

So I want to ask, are BLACK FRIDAY DEALS really great deals as they advertise and say or it’s just hyped up sale to get more people to come to shop and sell them things which they really don’t need. Many times people buy things just because it’s cheap and they don’t even have plan to buy or use them. I have many friends who buy things in Black Friday sitting in shelves without opening box for months.

Another thing, I have seen that deals on Black Friday are the materials which are either going to be retired or about to be retired as they plan to come with new version for next year especially laptops and electronic gadgets. Also, I have seen the pricing for these deals are lower 2 weeks before Black Friday but they increase and reduce during the Black Friday time.

My suggestion, if you really want something and looking for good price/deal, track the pricing for the last 6 months and make the decision on the purchase during Black Friday accordingly. Don’t just make impulse decision on the deals and buy things which you really didn’t plan to buy.

Have Happy Holidays and Shopping!!!

This blog is courtesy of mymoneyblog.com

CNN has a new series called “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta”, and its first episode examines the lifestyles of the impressive centenarians of Okinawa, Japan.

Nearly two-thirds of the residents of Okinawa are still functioning independently at age 97. That meant they were in their own homes, cooking their own meals and living their lives fully — at nearly 100 years old!

Here are three factors noted in the show:

Ikigai. This means having a sense of purpose in life. Gupta says that one way to figure this out is to first imagine that you no longer needed to do anything for money. In that case, what would you regret not doing with your life? What do you love, and what does the world need?

Here is a previous post on Ikigai – Finding Your “Reason For Being”. I have noticed that many people who seek out financial independence feel something “wrong” about their current trade-your-life-for-money environment. They are not living a life aligned with their “ikigai”.

Moai. This means having a social group within the community that has common interests and can provide both financial and emotional support. Family is important, but this appears to be an additional support system. This social component of longevity is critical and should not be overlooked.

Hara hachi bu. This means that you should stop eating when you are 80% full (and thus still a little bit hungry). People in Okinawa eat fewer calories in general, and the calories that they do eat tend to come from sweet potatoes, soybeans (legumes), a variety of vegetables, and only a little meat.

Okinawans centarians have also been examined in the book Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (which I have not yet read). Here is another Venn diagram from the Wikipedia entry that shows the common characteristics between Okinawa and two other Blue Zones (Loma Linda, USA and Sardinia, Italy).

Bottom line. It’s not just living for a long time, but it’s living an active, engaged, happy life for a long time. You won’t get this by taking the right pills from orange bottles. You need to spend your time doing something that you feel matters to the world. You need love and support from other humans. You need to eat natural foods, but not too much.