Keep Yourself Safe During The Holiday Season

Posted: November 26, 2018
Every year, we hear about the same holiday safety tips – don’t drive tired, don’t drive drunk, assume every other driver is drunk or tired, etc. Those are all good ideas to keep in mind year-round. Unfortunately, this time of year is also one of financial dangers, many of which you won’t hear about on the morning news or read about in the paper. Take some time, read our tips and hopefully you won’t be a holiday victim.
 

Keep an eye on your surroundings – Crowded malls and shopping centers are a savory opportunity for pickpockets. You’re expecting to get bumped and won’t notice one more jostle in a day full of them. If you do recognize you’ve been robbed, the thief can probably get away into the crowd, disappearing like a needle in a haystack. Purses should be worn across the body, wallets kept in the front pocket or inside a closed jacket. Consider leaving the house with the bare minimum, such as your driver’s license or ID, health insurance card and our debit card – which offers fraud protection and security features not available with cash.

RFID, RFID, RFID – Today’s pickpockets don’t need to take your wallet to cause you problems, because many modern debit and credit cards emit RFID signals with personally identifying information. If any of your cards have a chip, then you need to account for them. Don’t leave them at home, because they offer superior protection at the register. In a pinch, you can wrap chipped cards in two layers of aluminum foil, which will offer you protection from high-tech pickpockets, but you may get some bewildered stares or questions from folks at the register.

Don’t leave checks in the mailbox – At some point, we all learned not to use those colorful envelopes that tell thieves which cards might have checks in them, but we never learned the next step: Don’t put checks in the mailbox at all. It’s not hard for thieves to grab stuff out of the outgoing mail, whether it has the power company’s name on it or is shaped like a holiday card. Drop all checks into a big blue mailbox, bring them into your post office branch or hand them to your postal carrier in person. By the way, this tip should be followed year-round. You might want to consider setting up our online bill pay feature to minimize the number of checks you write, as well. Find more information in our Online Banking platform.

Understand the dangers of every form of payment – Cash is portable and untraceable, so it’s a target for thieves. Cards without EMV chips are in danger from skimmers built into the card reader at registers (like what happened at Target). EMV cards can be skimmed by people with specialized equipment who bump up next to you. All cards, cash and mobile phones are in danger of being stolen. Some experts are even saying that check fraud will be the most dangerous type of identity theft over the next five years. Even if you attempt to return to agrarian-era bartering, an enterprising thief could run off with the cow you were going to trade for an Old Navy gift card. Take a breath, recognize the dangers and take reasonable precautions. Do you know what kind of fraud protection you have on each of your credit cards? Any card about which you’re unsure needs to stay home until you find out. Unsure about a small boutique’s cyber security? Bring cash.

Bring your own bag – Shopping bags are a great way for stores to advertise, but they also advertise to thieves. “This overburdened, overtired, potentially unwary individual is carrying goods from all of these stores,” the bags say. “Some may even have receipts in them and might have been paid for with cash.” Don’t make it easier for thieves. Instead, bring a tote bag that zips up if you have one, or your canvas grocery bags if you don’t.

Take a trip to the car – Carrying too much is asking for trouble. It makes you less mobile, you’re less likely to feel someone remove an item from your bags, and even if no one hassles you, it’s a good way to end up with back pain. If you’re enduring a marathon trip to the mall, take time every few stores to take your purchases out to the car. Keep receipts in your wallet and take pictures of the bags you put in your trunk (where thieves can’t see), so even in the worst possible scenario, your car insurance can cover the loss of your shopping from a car thief. Plus, you’ll have less to carry, you’ll get some exercise and the cold air can help you clear your head to decide if you need to purchase anything else. Not a bad way to keep from overspending!

Buy yourself a holiday drink from the coffee shop – You’re probably safer if you’re alert, but that’s just an excuse. Holiday coffee drinks are delicious, you want one and we just gave you an awesome excuse to justify the everyday luxury of a peppermint mocha to yourself. You’re welcome.

And that’s it. It sounds like a lot, but it’s really taking the same level of vigilance you would use for normal shopping and increasing it to correspond with the increased spending of the season. For a good rule of thumb, maybe we should just establish the “three-Mariah” rule: Once you hear Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” for the third time on any day, you have to go home – you’ve either spent too long at the mall, or your brain has been turned into holiday slurry and you can no longer be trusted to remain vigilant. Three Mariahs and you’re out.

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