Is that ATM safe?

Monitoring all your accounts is important, but these days you want to pay particular attention to what's going on in your checking and savings accounts, because thieves increasingly target bank accounts.


The bad guys have found plenty of ways to steal all-important PINs. Some set up bogus ATMs or install skimming devices or cameras on legitimate machines to record account numbers and PINs.

A few may even have cracked what MSNBC technology columnist Bob Sullivan calls the "holy grail" of bank-account hacking, by stealing and decoding encrypted PINs from a retailer's database.

So the answer to question No. 2 is also "false." You don't want to write down your PIN, of course, but keeping it a secret won't necessarily protect your account.

What you need to do:

Avoid unfamiliar ATMs.

Consider using your credit card instead of your debit card for transactions.

Monitor your bank transactions at least once a week and question any unfamiliar charges.

If your accounts have been compromised, shut them down and open new ones. The bank may resist, but once the bad guys have access to your account, there's really no foolproof way to keep them out, except by shutting it down and starting with a new account number.

'Helping' you as they help themselves

Finally, you need to know about a twist on "phishing" scams called "vishing."

In a phishing scam, you get an e-mail purportedly from your bank or another financial institution, or a site where you have an account, such as eBay or PayPal. The e-mail typically warns of some security problem and tries to get you to provide personal information, such as your login ID and password.

Vishing is like phishing, except a phone is involved. You may get an e-mail directing you to call a phony customer-service line, which prompts you to input account numbers, passwords and other identifying information.

Or you may get a phone call purporting to be from your bank or credit card issuer and be asked to provide critical information, such as the security code on your credit card. The criminal may already have some of your account information, to create a false sense of security.

By the way, you can't trust caller ID to separate legitimate calls from vishing calls. The criminals often use Internet calling services with software programs that create bogus customer-service numbers, or they hack into legitimate companies' phone lines.

To fight back: If you get an e-mail or phone call purporting to be from your financial institution, don't provide any information. Dial your institution's main number yourself and let it know what's happened. If it's a fraud call, you'll be connected to the right people for further action.

In other words, be vigilant. Always assume the sender of the e-mail, the caller on the phone and the person standing behind you in line are out to wreak havoc on your financial life. A little suspicion can go a long way toward protecting your wallet and your identity.



Liz Pulliam Weston's latest book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.



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