What messages on your phone should be deleted immediately after reading: they can help criminals steal your money
SMS messages contain a lot of confidential information. If the phone is lost or stolen, it will end up in the hands of criminals who will use it against the user. This article will tell you which messages on your phone you need to delete after reading them.
Compromising evidence
SMS messages and instant messenger chats contain information that can be used for blackmail. Every person has secrets that scammers will take advantage of: details of their personal lives, explicit photographs, confidential work data and much more.
Since everyone has their own unprotected areas, there are no exact recommendations here and cannot be. In such situations, anything can come into play: from your residential address to your place of work. So try putting yourself in the shoes of the criminal and guess what data would make you look bad.
Information about loved ones
What information about loved ones is better not to store on your phone:
- Health information.
- Personal information.
- Information about what time relatives leave home and return when they are away.
- Passwords for payment systems and website personal accounts.
Criminals can use this information to blackmail your loved ones, plan a theft, deceive you by impersonating you, or gain access to your bank account.
Financial data
SMS with logins and passwords for personal accounts and wallets, bank account and credit card numbers - all this should not be stored in incoming and outgoing messages or notes. Even if the phone is not lost, there is always a chance that it will be infected with malicious software. In this sense, good old paper keeps secrets much better. And if you don’t trust notepads and pieces of paper, there are special secure services.
There is no point in deleting one-time codes for security reasons - they will not help criminals in any way, because they stop working after 5 minutes. But this can be done so as not to get confused and not accidentally enter the wrong combination of numbers, blocking the account.
The same applies to SMS messages that indicate your account balance. The full card number is not indicated on them (only 4 digits), so they will not help steal money. It makes sense to delete such data only if you want to hide the balance on the card from strangers.
Suspicious messages with links
If an unknown user forwards a message with a link in a messenger chat or via SMS, it is better to delete it immediately. Most likely, this is how they distribute virus software or a website where they will try to steal personal data.
You should erase such a message so as not to accidentally click on the link or so that, for example, your child does not do it. The same applies to fake SMS from banks telling you how to withdraw a million that was suddenly transferred to your card.
How else to protect personal data
Most modern smartphones, including budget phones costing $100, are equipped with biometric fingerprint scanners or face unlock.It is possible to hack such systems, but it is too difficult and expensive for the average fraudster. Still, it’s better not to neglect clearing SMS messages and instant messenger chats of important data.
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