Protecting yourself from online hackers

If you think you have fallen victim to identity theft, it's recommend it you report it to your bank right away.

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New this morning on daybreak.

With the ongoing pandemic... many people have turned to online shopping and even online banking.

But how do you know all of your information you're plugging in is secure?

Kimt news 3'smadelyne watkins has 3 ways to make sure it is.

She joins us now.

Madelyne./// brooke and tyler.

Today is the start of national cyber security awareness month.

So now is a good time to get a refresher of some do's and don'ts when it comes to browsing the web.

First things first: while you're online shopping and paying for items... you never want to save your credit card number on your phone or your computer.

The number one danger when it comes to putting information like that online is identity theft.

There are millions of stolen identity reports every year ?

*- that's according to the federal trade commission.

Marketing manager of first security bank, matt bradley, tells me ?the most proactive thing you can do to protect yourself is sign up for an identity theft monitoring service through your bank or credit union.

It'll alert you if something suspicious is happening with your account or if someone is trying to open credit in your name.

And lastly... if someone who's claiming they're from a company is requesting any info from you but you didn't reach out to them ?

"(first... "so really being very vigilant about people who approach you in different ways ?

"* that coud be a phone call, it could be an email, it could be a website.

If you haven't sought them out, then be very, very careful.

Say if you're on the phone with somebody, you can always hang up and then call their public number to verify that this is a legitimate request for your information."

If you have an alert service and you get a notification that something suspicious is happening... you should call your bank and freeze any transactions from being completed.

Then let them know what's going on.

Live in rochester.

Madelyne watkins kimt thank you madelyne.

If you think you have fallen victim to identity theft and someone has taken money from you... it's recommended that you report