How to Protect Your Family From AI Scams

AI scams are becoming increasingly common. With the rise of artificial intelligence and technology, fraudulent activity is becoming more sophisticated and sophisticated. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important for families to be aware of the dangers posed by AI scams and to take steps to protect themselves.  

1. Educate yourself and your family about AI scams. Understanding what AI scams are and how they work is an important first step in protecting your family. Make sure everyone in your family is aware of the potential risks and understand the basics of how AI scams work.
2. Monitor your family’s online activity. Make sure your family is only engaging with legitimate online sources and that they are not clicking on any suspicious links or downloading any suspicious software. This is especially important for children, who may be more susceptible to AI scams.
3. Use strong passwords. Make sure all of your family’s accounts are protected with strong passwords and regularly change them. Also, make sure that your family is using different passwords for different accounts.
4. Install antivirus software. Make sure all of your family’s devices are protected with antivirus software and that it is regularly updated. This will help protect your family’s devices from malicious software and viruses.
5. Check your credit report. Make sure to regularly check your family’s credit report for any suspicious activity. If you find any suspicious activity, report it to the credit bureau immediately.

By taking these steps, you can help protect your family from AI scams. Educating yourself and your family about the potential risks of AI scams, monitoring your family’s online activity, using strong passwords, installing anti-virus software, and checking your credit report regularly can help keep your family safe from AI scams. 

No one likes to be taken advantage of or scammed. By being aware of the potential risks of AI scams, you protect your family from becoming victims. 

In addition, it is important to be aware of emails or texts that appear to be from legitimate sources but are actually attempts to entice you to click on suspicious links or provide personal information. If you receive a suspicious email or text, delete it immediately. If you are unsure, contact the company directly to verify that the message is legitimate. By being aware of potential AI scams keep your family safe from financial loss or identity theft. 

You can also take additional steps to protect yourself and your family from AI scams. Consider using two-factor authentication when logging in to websites or apps, and keep all passwords and usernames secure. Be skeptical of unsolicited emails or texts never provide confidential information unless you are sure you know who you are dealing with. Finally, always consider the source and research any unfamiliar company or service before you provide any personal information. By taking these steps, you can help to protect yourself and your family from the dangers posed by AI scams. 

monitor your bank accounts and credit reports to ensure that no unauthorized activity is taking place. Set up notifications to alert you of any changes or suspicious activity. Make sure to update your security software to the latest version and be aware of phishing attempts, which could be attempts to gain access to your personal information. If you receive a suspicious email or text, do not click on any links and delete the message immediately. 

Finally, stay informed and know the signs of scam. Be your online accounts and look out for any requests for personal information. If something looks suspicious, trust your instincts and don’t provide any information. Report any suspicious activity to the authorities and make sure to spread the word to others from falling victim to AI scams. 

This blog post was co-written with artifical intelligence (AI) as a tool to supplement, enhance, and make suggestions. While AI may assist in the creative and editing process, the thoughts, ideas, opinions, and the finished product are entirely human and original to their author. We strive to ensure accuracy and relevance, but please be aware that AI-generated content may not always fully represent the intent or expertise of human-authored material. 

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Protect the Whole Family with McAfee+ Ultimate Family Plan

Dozens of content creators center their channels on highlighting the differences between today’s most prominent generations: the Silent Generation, baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generations Z and Alpha. At quick glance, no generation seems to have much in common with the others.  

Despite our vastly different life experiences and philosophies, there’s something that people of any age should get behind: identity and online privacy protection. Young or old, cybercriminals don’t discriminate against who they target. In fact, some generations are more prone to certain scams than others. 

Education on current cyber threats is the first step to defending against them. Here’s how to protect every member of the family against online threats. 

Children 

Cybercriminals can steal identities even from young children who don’t yet have an online presence. Criminals can buy Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of minors on the dark web or gather them through medical record or school system breaches. Those SSNs are valuable to a cybercriminal, because the theft can go undetected for years. Since children aren’t opening credit cards or applying for mortgages, there’s seemingly no reason to keep tabs on their credit and ensure everything is normal.  

To check up on the online safety of your youngest family members, it’s never too early to start identity monitoring. Also, consider putting a credit freeze on your child’s credit. A credit freeze does not negatively affect their credit score. Since they won’t be needing it for several years anyway, might as well make your child’s credit inaccessible to everyone, including criminals. 

Tweens and Teens 

Teenagers crave independence. Often at this age, parents allow their teens to open and manage their first email addresses and social media profiles independently. It’s an important life lesson in organization, responsibility, and digital literacy; however, these platforms are not without risks like cyberbullying, fake news, and social engineering. 

The best way to avoid falling for each is through education. Globally, 13% of children experienced the most severe forms of cyberbullying, including harassment, physical threats, and stalking. Ensure that your tweens and teens who spend time unsupervised on their connected devices know what to do if they encounter cyberbullying. The best course of action is to report the incident to an adult, and in the meantime, to suspend their accounts.    

To steer clear of fake news perpetuated by social media bots and social engineering scams, a safe browsing extension may protect your teen’s device from risky sites. McAfee WebAdvisor not only alerts users to possible hidden malware, but also to phishing attempts, which may be difficult for teenagers to suss out. For teens who are eager to download a “free” TV or video game, they may miss the telltale signs of malicious sites, such as typos, blurry logos, or offers that are too good to be true. 

Adults 

While adults typically have more street smarts than teens, their schedules are brimming with important tasks. Juggling work, social obligations, and running a household often leaves adults feeling like they don’t have time to spare. The feeling that they have to rush through emails, social media direct messages, and even dating app correspondences could increase their susceptibility to phishing, malware, and computer viruses.  

The best advice to adults to avoid phishing or malicious bugs is this: slow down! Take your time when you receive any message from someone you don’t know or have never met in person. If you feel even an iota of suspicion, don’t engage any further with the sender. Delete the message. If it’s important, the person or organization will follow up.  

To fully protect expensive connected devices and the personally identifiable information they store, consider investing in safe browsing, antivirus software, and identity monitoring and restoration services to catch any threats that may have passed under your watchful eye. 

Seniors 

Cybercriminals often seek out seniors as easy targets for online scams. Because they aren’t digital natives like millennials and Gen Zers, seniors are typically less confident in their online skills. For example, they may not realize that every email in their inbox isn’t necessarily sent by someone with good intentions. What can start out as a friendly online pen pal can quickly spiral into divulging sensitive personal information or sending huge sums of money to a criminal. 

The best way to prepare the seniors in your life for online safety is to impart a few, easy-to-follow absolutes. Start with these three rules: 

• Never tell anyone your password. Your bank, tax filing service, nor the IRS will ever need it. 
• Never divulge your SSN over email. 
• Never send money to a stranger, no matter how much their “story” tugs at your heartstrings. 

For peace of mind, enroll the seniors in your family in identity monitoring and restoration services. This will help them get back on their feet if their identity was compromised in a senior scam. 

 The Ultimate Plan to Protect the Whole Family 

Get the whole family committed to safer and more private online lives with the help of McAfee+ Ultimate Family Plan. The Family Plan covers up to six individuals and protects their online lives with an entire suite of comprehensive privacy, identity, and device security features. For example, families can receive up to $2 million in identity theft recovery and $50,000 in ransomware coverage. The plan also includes preventive measures to fight online crime, such as safe browsing tools, an advanced firewall, unlimited VPN, and antivirus software for unlimited devices. 

Empower your whole family with online confidence and protection for their digital life! 

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How To Help Your Family Protect Their Online Data

Whether you’re standing around the water cooler at work, waiting for your kids at the school gate or sitting around the dinner table, data breaches are without doubt the hot topic of conversation. In late September, we were all shaken when news of the biggest Australian data breach to date broke – a record 10 million Optus customers had their details stolen. But unfortunately, the data breach stories have continued with Medibank, Energy Australia, and, most recently, Woolworths also reporting that private customer data had been stolen. 

Inevitably, many of us are feeling vulnerable worrying that our private identifying information (and our family’s) such as our Medicare and Drivers Licence details have potentially been stolen. We’ve all read the stories about victims of identity theft and are, rightly concerned, that it could happen to us. So, if you’re unsure as to what to do next – don’t worry – I’ve got you! In fact – I’m going to give you two action plans. The first is for those who have been personally affected by a data breach (or consider it highly likely they were affected) and the second, is a long-term plan to help you protect yourself and your family’s data online. 

What To Do If You’ve Been Affected By A Data Breach 

If you or a family member has been contacted by a company and informed that your private details have been compromised, then you need to caffeine up and bring your entire focus to this situation. And if you’re still awaiting the call but you’re thinking it’s likely you’re affected, then my advice is to assume you are. It never hurts to be too cautious when you’re dealing with a potential identity theft situation. So, here’s your plan: 

1. If you think you’ve been affected, contact the company directly. Hopefully they can confirm whether you’re affected and identify what information was stolen eg drivers licence, birthdate, address, Medicare details. 
2. If your drivers licence, passport or Medicare details have been stolen, then you are able to apply for new documents. You may need to apply for a Commonwealth Victim’s Certificate first. Do this as soon as possible. 
3. Contact your bank and credit card providers and inform them that you have been the victim of a data breach and ask them to monitor accounts for suspicious activity. Also ask them to put additional verification methods in place, particularly for over the phone authentication. You may also want to do this for your superannuation accounts, MyGov and Centrelink accounts too. 
4. Change your passwords for affected accounts immediately.  
5. Do not click on links in text messages or emails claiming to be from the company that was affected by the data breach. If you are unsure, contact the company directly to verify the communication. 
6. Monitor your bank accounts daily for suspicious or any unexpected activity. Also check your telephone and utilities accounts. Contact your bank or provider if you notice anything that looks a little suspect. 

What To Do To Ensure Your Online Data Is As Secure As Possible 

So, now it’s time to think long term. We all know prevention is key. So, what can we do to protect ourselves to minimise the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft (if and when) the next data breach occurs? Here’s your plan: 

1. Refine Your Password Strategy 

As we all know, it’s often the simplest things that can have the biggest impact. Ensuring you have a different but super complex password or passphrase for each of your online accounts is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself online. I appreciate that this may take a lot of work to implement but it’s so worth it. And here’s why – if you’re the victim of a data breach and your login details are stolen then you could be in a world of pain if you have just one password for all your accounts. Because within seconds of stealing your details, a hacker could potentially access your bank accounts, credit card accounts and online shopping sites where your credit card is saved – you get the picture! You see why it makes such sense! If it all feels a little overwhelming, why not use a password manager? Password managers can create and remember passwords that no human could even think of – genius! 

2. Use Multi-Factor Authentication When It’s Offered – Always! 

In summary, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) makes a hacker’s life a lot harder. In short, it requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to an account or app. This might be a text, email or even a code generated by an authentication app. So, even if a hacker has your password and username, if they can’t access the last piece of the puzzle, then you’re safe!!! 

3. Invest in A Top Tier Identity, Security and Protection Solution  

McAfee has just released a super-duper solution to help Aussies protect themselves online. McAfee+ is an all-in-one privacy, identity and device protection solution. Not only does it feature identity monitoring and a password manager but also an unlimited VPN, a file shredder, a protection score and parental controls. And the Rolls Royce version called McAfee+ Advanced, also offers subscribers additional identity protections including access to licensed restoration experts who can help you repair your identity and credit. It also gives subscribers access to lost wallet protection which help you cancel and replace your ID, credit cards if they are lost or stolen. 

4. Do A Little Cyber-Hygiene!  

Limiting your exposure online will also reduce the chance of being affected by a data breach. So, take some time to delete accounts you no longer use. Perhaps you had a side hustle on eBay a few years back but hadn’t bothered to close your accounts – well, now is the time. Close down those old eBay (and PayPal) accounts and any other accounts or subscriptions that you no longer use. 

And next time you purchase something from a new website, consider conducting your transaction as a guest only and not creating an account on their website. If there’s no benefit beyond saving a minute or two when you check out, why store your credit card number, address, and other identifying info on a website that may eventually be breached? 

If there is ever a time to take the management of your online data seriously, it’s now. Assuming that you won’t be a victim of a data breach and that ‘things like that don’t happen to you’ just doesn’t cut it. So, be proactive: sort out your passwords, turn on 2-factor authentication and practice some good quality cyber hygiene! And do yourself a favour and invest in some top-notch privacy and identity protection program like McAfee+ so you can continue living your best life online!  

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