Fraud Alert! How to Protect Yourself | Ep. 22

• Tiffany introduces the solo episode, explaining she attended an all-day workshop on financial exploitation of seniors which motivated her to share fraud protection tips.

Any piece of mail that comes to my house gets shredded. If it has my name, my address, which is everything, it gets shredded.

• She recommends looking for community shredding events if you don't own a shredder.

Freeze your credit report. Like if you are done buying houses, buying cars, you know, at least for the time being, applying for new credit, freeze your credit report.

• Tiffany shares how a frozen credit report stopped her from making an impulse internet service purchase at Walmart, giving her time to reconsider.

• Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. If you do answer, don't say 'yes' or confirm you can hear them—scammers record this for fraudulent use. Government agencies like the IRS don't call; they send letters (though fraudsters are now mimicking these too).

At the pump, I never do debit... I always do credit at the pump. And it's always best to use credit whenever possible because it has safeguards for you.

• Entering sweepstakes leads to data sharing with scammers. Work-from-home opportunities requesting your SSN should be thoroughly vetted; ratracerebellion.com is recommended for legitimate remote jobs.

• Avoid entering sensitive information on public Wi-Fi. Be careful what you share online—never post phone numbers, addresses, or payment info. Verify email sender addresses, as scammers spoof legitimate companies like Apple.

• Electronic statements and payments are generally more secure than paper mail, which can be intercepted from mailboxes or dumpsters. However, stay alert for data breaches like Equifax.