The use of money has evolved a lot over time. Digitization has hit banks and coins and banknotes are being used less and less. The only physical object we use is The credit card and even for small payments we tend to use other methods like Bizum.
Basing the management of our economy on the computer, mobile phone and paper is very convenient, but also dangerous. Maybe not as much as keeping the bills under the mattress, but we can escape risk of password theft and some criminals have access to our money.
The most common causes of fraudulent operations
The data is alarming: they are almost one million fraudulent transactions carried out every year in Spain with credit or debit cards. Not only in online purchases: also physically. Many cybercriminals are dedicated to discovering secret numbers in order to buy with our money until we realize it and cancel them.
Many times the password is good but we make the mistake of falling in love with computer scams. We do not have to pay attention if we receive emails or SMS that claim to be from the bank, as what they do is send us fraudulent links so that we put our codes there. Do not provide any information, not even the expiration date, as this is another safety feature. In any case, sometimes the problem is that our number is easy to guess.
These are the numbers you shouldn’t choose for any PIN
Neither for the credit card, nor for the mobile phone, nor for any device that requires a password. There are numbers that should be strictly prohibited. Starting from appointments, since anyone who knows anything about you can easily guess and hit it. This is an example of what not to do.
On the other hand, there is a list of easy numbers that we use because they are very easy for us to remember … but they are also easy for the criminal. As revealed by Nick Berry, Facebook data scientist, more than 10% of credit card passwords are 1234. Here are the ten most common PIN choices, all used on at least one card in every 200:
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1 2 3 4
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1111
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0000
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1212
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7777
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1004
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2000
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4444
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2222
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6969
Any password that follows a number pattern with repetition, addition or multiplication is easy to steal. The ideal is that no digits are repeated and there are no mathematical questions, but that you create a PIN by chance and do the exercise of remembering it. The least used number, by the way, is 8068. Do not copy it, it will certainly no longer be the case.
The advice of the Bank of Spain to prevent the theft of keys
Given the increase in cases, The Bank of Spain has launched a series of recommendations. Take note:
- do not score nowhere the secret number
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Do not use at your place
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Prevent password matching the DNI or use the same than in your mobile or other card
- Cover fingers while typing secret codes
- check that you have not lost your card on the days you don’t use it
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Regularly review the commercial register in the bank app
- do not tell anyonenot even your parents, children or partners, what are your keys
