💰 AARP Recognizes Banks for Efforts to Curb Financial Exploitation (AARP BLOG)

[Winter2024]

IS YOUR BANK/CREDIT UNION/FINANCIAL ADVISORY FIRM ON THIS LIST?  🤔  MINE IS NOT - TRUIST BANK!  😎

FROM ARTICLE - SEE ARTICLE FOR MORE.

By Natalie Missakian, March 12, 2024.

Banks, credit unions and financial advisory firms are arming their employees with the information and training needed to recognize and stop financial exploitation before it happens.

This month, AARP gave 167 financial organizations our BankSafe Trained Seal, acknowledging their commitment to fighting financial exploitation, which costs older adults more than $28.3 billion a year in the U.S. (when factoring in cases that go unreported).

https://blog.aarp.org/fighting-for-you/bank-safe-financial-exploitation-prevention-seal

[GailL1]

The list is ONLY for 2024 AARP BankSafeTrained banks and credit unions - in fact, I don’t see many, IF ANY, of the bigger banks and credit unions on the 2024 list.  I see a very few of the larger financial advisory firms listed on the 2024 list but not even the biggest ones.

Maybe those larger financial institutions have their own, ongoing training program - or maybe they just didn’t renew the program for this 2024 list. 

Look at the actual site to determine how it works -

 AARP BankSafe Terms and Conditions

NONE of my banks, credit unions or financial advisory institutions are listed and they are among this Country’s largest.  

Even after this training, and getting on the list, would a customer client be guaranteed of safety?  I didn’t see any guarantee even for the year they get on the list but I may have missed it.  

I didn’t research the actual training - so I cannot speak to it’s completeness or superiority - but I know for sure that my financial institutions try their very best to protect their clients - it is in their own best interest - don’t you agree?

Plus the best place to help people protect their own money is direct training of them to do so - and I do get plenty of messages from them for exactly that sort of thing.

So I don’t think not being listed here has too much bearing on their safety - if you think it does, change your affiliation to the ones on the list but then keep changing every year.

[Winter2024]

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[GailL1]

@Winter2024 wrote

all banks have their "issues" and until the INCREASED Hacking stops - things are only going to get worst. You would think the US would be able to STOP the hacking!!! 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The problem is GLOBAL and with each new cybersecurity update, the hackers just create a new one to break through - In fact, government, including federal, state and local, are the ones most affected by hacking.  Our critical infrastructure is constantly at risk; even our voting is not above being hacked by foreign players.

Now our healthcare providers are at risk - hospital systems and patient portals.

Most personal attacks still come from phishing and people opening links they should not - it says from their bank so they just click on it.

How many people know how to use their security programs and do checks and reviews of their own computers on a regular basis? In fact, how many change their passwords periodically or do they use the same one for simplicity in remembering?

2023 was a bumper year for cyberattacks but to something a bit more recent:

Reuters 02/01/2024 - Exclusive: US disabled Chinese hacking network targeting critical infrastructur...

[Winter2024]

(comment deleted by poster)

[GailL1]

@Winter2024 wrote

 Anyway, TIME FOR THE US to stop this epidemic of hacking.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That starts with me and you - and everybody else - 

• Have an antivirus program
• Keeping our security measures up-to-date - install updates as soon as available 
• Avoid clicking suspicious links or responding to unknown emails.
• Don't install programs unless you know they are safe
• Have a firewall
• Use good passwords and change them periodically - don't use the same one for everything.
• Be vigilant - stay informed if a company / government office says they have been hacked - monitor your identity and your finances - including your credit cards and bank accounts.

Now what did I forget - 

[Winter2024]

(comment deleted by poster)

[GailL1]

There is little we individually can do to stop China or some other country or group from taking over an important system - but we can protect ourselves as much as possible from falling prey to the criminals and furthering the attack via individuals. 

PBS 07/08/2021 Why ransomware attacks are on the rise — and what can be done to stop them

from the link ~

Individuals can also take fairly simple steps to make their own information more secure, said KnowBe4’s Roger Grimes. First, be wary of social engineering, or attackers pretending to be someone they’re not. That alone accounts for between 70 percent and 90 percent of cyberattacks, according to Grimes’ research.

“Don’t get tricked into doing something you shouldn’t do,” he said. “That’s how most people are compromised.”

Phishing emails are a classic example of social engineering, Grimes said. That’s when a hacker poses as someone else in an email — maybe pretending to be a colleague or a trusted company — in an attempt to make the user click a link containing malicious software that would compromise their computer.

He also recommends regularly updating software, which often includes fixes to “patch” vulnerabilities developers may have noticed, and using a different password for each of your log-ins. Password manager programs like 1Password or BitWarden can make that task less daunting.