Online Banking - Safety Tips For Customers
With the growing precedence of the Internet, most people today are capitalizing on the emerging opportunity. An offshoot of the internet business, online banking is also riding high on popularity and has become a preferred platform not only for customers and bankers, but also for fraudsters and hackers. However, it is a misconception that online banking is not safe. It can be as safe as the conventional financial transaction systems, if the customer knows how to make the right choice. Here are some safety tips for customer to ensure that they have a wonderful online banking experience.
Choosing a legitimate bank
The most important thing is to select a legitimate bank for opening an account. So how do you choose a legitimate bank that has some recognition in the market?
- If the bank has its branches locally, you should go and check it out in person just to get a hang of it.
- If the bank does not have a branch locally, you should trust the bank's website, value of its share in the market, its key competitors and reviews by experts and customers on the internet.
- Go through the website carefully to get all the relevant information about the bank. You should check out the 'About Us' section that includes the history and profile of the bank and where it is headquartered.
- Check whether it has got any industry accreditation or ranking. this will help you in understanding the bank's position in the market
- The other important sections you should go through are the management team, board of advisors and key customers of the bank to confirm its legitimacy.
- You should also look for the bank's toll-free number and call up and talk to a representative if possible.
Beware of hackers and criminals
There are numerous fraudulent websites that carry the name and also the web address of a credible bank. They often send attractive e-mails luring the person to enter their site provide certain personal details. These include existing account number, security ID and so on. It is important to do a Google search of the address and location to see whether such a bank exists. Also type the correct URL for accessing your online account. The best would be to save it to 'my favourite' so that you do not make a mistake later.
Safeguard your laptop
If your laptop or other computing devices gets stolen or lost and the prior histories are not deleted, hackers can get hold of your personal and confidential bank information and passwords. In that case, immediately call up the bank and deactivate the numbers.
Check for the encryption and the PIN
A secure site offering online banking services will always provide encryption and the Personal Identification Number (PIN). Encrypted sites always carry a lock and key icon and indicate that your private information as well as your transaction is safe and secured. Similarly, legitimate banks provide with a password or PIN, which is your unique transaction number. You should always select a recognizable yet tricky password so that others do not understand easily.