The Holidays and Beyond - Shopping and Mobile Safety

Safer Holiday Shopping from our friends at All Clear ID    

Many of us are still in the midst of (or just beginning) our holiday shopping. Here are some tips that will help keep your identity as safe as possible during your holiday shopping and beyond.      

Save your receipts - The hustle and bustle of the season can make it difficult to keep track of all of the activity on your card statements. Be sure to save your receipts and use them to check your statements. Double check that all the amounts are accurate and charges are legitimate ones.

Beware of shopping apps - While shopping on your mobile phone is certainly convenient, it's not without risk. In many cases, mobile shopping apps gather more information from you than you intend to share, such as address, phone number, and even SSN. If you are going to use a shopping app, be sure to check the permissions before making purchases.

Be cautious when donating - If you like to do a little extra giving during the holiday season, watch for scams. Do some research to make sure the charity you are considering donating to is a legitimate one. The Better Business Bureau has a helpful tool for verifying the legitimacy of a charity: http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national  

Learn more about how to protect your identity while shopping on our blog: https://www.allclearid.com/blog/holiday-shopping-without-the-scams

   Steps to Secure Your Smartphone

Whether for connecting with friends and family or searching for deals, many of us use our mobile devices more frequently around the holidays. Mobile security can be a difficult thing to navigate at any time of the year. If you're confused about what steps you should take to secure your smartphone, this cool new tool from the FCC may be able to help. The FCC Smartphone Security Checker provides a list of tips to help secure your smartphone based on the operating system you have. Simply visit the site and choose your operating system, and the tool will generate a list of tips to boost your mobile security. Learn more about the tool here: https://www.allclearid.com/blog/simple-steps-for-securing-your-smartphone.