By Babajide Komolafe

The first step to protecting your money from fraudsters is to never leave a huge deposit in your bank account. The only exception is if you may need that money anytime soon.

If you have a huge amount of money you are certain you will not likely need for two weeks to a month, put it in a mutual fund account, preferably a money market mutual fund. This gives you an opportunity to earn some interest income on the money. It may be small but it is better than keeping the money idle in the bank and exposed to fraudsters

And if you have huge money you may need at any time, keep that money in a bank account that can’t be accessed electronically (by transfer, PoS, ATM withdrawal etc.). Some people actually open a bank account for this purpose. They can only withdraw from the account by using cheques or by visiting the bank branch to withdraw or do a transfer.

Another step, for those who can afford it, is to have a bank account linked to a SIM (phone number) that is different from your regular phone number, which you also do not operate via your regular phone. That SIM may be at home, and is only inserted in your phone when you want to make a transaction. The SIM may also be in another phone that is kept at home where others cannot have easy access to it.

These first two measures make it difficult or even impossible for anyone to fraudulently access and withdraw your money via the bank, even in the case of criminal attack.

The third measure is to be very secretive about the login details of bank accounts you operate digitally. Many people commit the error of sharing the login details of their bank accounts with their spouse, children or very close acquaintance.

Some have paid dearly for this error, when the trusted relative or acquaintance uses this privilege to make fraudulent transactions from their account. Never share your login details with anyone.

Similarly, don’t store your login details in physical/manual documents like notebooks, papers, desk drawers etc. Devise a method of storing your login details in digital documents in a system you create and also camouflaged such that no one can understand or access it.

Another step is to delete SMS alerts or any other form of alerts of transactions on your accounts as quickly as possible. In the case of a criminal attack, such alerts provide immediate information of the balance in your account and give the fraudster an idea of your liquidity. (To be continued)