Protecting your financial future involves more than investing, saving, or spending wisely. It also means safeguarding your accounts, personal information, and identity from increasingly sophisticated scams in a digital and AI-driven landscape. At First Light Financial LLC, we believe that it is our #1 duty to help inform our clients and our audience about the technology available to protect them and their assets.
The 2026 threat landscape when it comes to financial scams looks a lot different than it did even a decade ago, when traditional social engineering and phishing were the most likely risks. These days, artificial intelligence powers scams with high-tech and ever-changing precision, even cloning voice and video to steal your information. A few seconds of audio from a voicemail, social media video, or even answering a phone call can be enough for a scammer to convincingly clone your voice and attempt to defraud a family member, friend, or even your boss.
One of the most cited instances was the 2024 case of a Hong Kong finance worker who was tricked into paying out $25 million after a video conference with a deepfaked CFO and colleagues. While this example is an extreme outlier, it goes to show how realistic and convincing financial scams can get.
Total fraud losses in 2024 cleared $12.5 billion according to the FTC, up 25% from 2023, so it’s clear that anyone can fall prey to these schemes. In one study, participants could only tell real voices from fakes 37.5% of the time.
Without further ado, here are a few tools and tactics that you can implement to protect your wealth and your future from online scams:
First Light Financial LLC is not affiliated with or sponsored by any of the services mentioned below. These are merely provided as examples for the reader’s edification. For each recommendation, there are many excellent products and services that can accomplish the same purpose. Unfortunately in the interest of space, we can’t cover them all here.
Tip #1: Use a Password Manager and Add Unique Passwords
Use long, varied, and unique passwords for all your digital log-ins, but especially for any that contain sensitive financial or banking information. Not only does this method make it easier to change any compromised passwords, but it prevents “credential stuffing” after a data breach in which scammers try your one compromised password on as many websites and log-ins as possible to see if you reused it.
Related: use a strong and open source password manager like Bitwarden to securely store your passwords instead of writing them down or keeping them in an accessible word processor notes app.
Make sure you set up two-factor authentication when logging into your password manager (more on that below), and use their inbuilt password generator to come up with strong passwords that are dozens of characters long, don’t use plain English words or phrases, and have a healthy mix of numbers, letters, and symbols.
Tip #2: Implement Phishing-resistant 2FA On All Financial Accounts
Ensure that you have two-factor authentication set up when logging into all digital financial accounts. Really you should have 2FA enabled on all your online accounts for extra protection, but any that hold banking, real estate, stock brokerage, tax returns, or other financial information are extra important. Don’t just do SMS verification via text messages either, as phones can be sim-swapped: use a secure third party authenticator app like Raivo or even better, a hardware key like Yubikey that you physically plug into your computer or phone every time you log in.
While these methods represent slightly more work when logging into an account, they also significantly lower the risk of scammers being able to replicate your log-in attempts – and they provide peace of mind that your accounts are safe from bad actors.
Tip #3: Consider Adding Credit freeze and Fraud Alerts with Credit Agencies
There are three major credit agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Did you know that you don’t need to wait until you’re compromised in a data breach to request a credit freeze and fraud alert notifications with these agencies?
For most people who aren’t actively applying for loans or opening new credit cards, proactively freezing credit is a great preemptive way to stay ahead of illicit attempts against your information, identity, and money. When it comes time to request a new line of credit, you can simply ask these agencies to lift the freeze.
Ensure that you also set up frequent fraud alerts, either through these credit agencies or your bank or credit card if they offer the service. Financial institutions offer many iterations of alerts, from dark web monitoring to see if your social security and other information is being sold on underground marketplaces to fraudulent charge notifications on your debit or credit cards and more.
Tip #4: Use Bank and Card Transaction Alerts for Every Charge
While it may seem burdensome to receive a text message or email every time a transaction is made on your bank account or credit card, it is the single quickest way to catch fraud when it does occur. Most of these notification systems are virtually instantaneous, pinging you seconds after your card is swiped or your account is accessed. If you see a notification for a charge you didn’t authorize, you are able to call your bank to report the fraud and cancel your card immediately, before any further damage is done.
Tip #5: Reverse Image Search and Call-Back Verification
If an individual or company reaches out to you via email, social media, text, etc. about a financial issue, make sure you verify that they are legitimate before you provide any sort of information or continue the conversation. Using reverse image and video search functionality on Google and other search engines can help you find whether the person you are talking to represents a legitimate institution.
The easiest way to verify is to immediately hang up when you get such a phone call, and call the number back to see if the same individual or team answers. If they do, chances are higher that you are speaking with a real representative. If they don’t, it’s likely that you were speaking with a scammer using a spoofed phone number or software that rapidly cycles and discards large amounts of fake phone numbers to avoid being identified.
Related: develop a code word for family members and friends that only you know, so that if you get a call requesting financial assistance you can ensure it is a real person and not an AI or robocall scammer impersonating a loved one. And never send money or crypto to someone you haven’t met in person!
Finally, check known registries like VirusTotal to make sure that websites, links, and files do not contain malware that can steal financial information and infect your computer – BEFORE you click on them or download them to your personal hardware!
Tip #6: Ad Blockers and VPN (Advanced)
For more tech-savvy users, consider using a trustworthy ad blocker like AdGuard or uBlock Origin along with a filtering DNS service (an intro on DNS filtering is available here). These services block a chunk of malicious sites and fake ad pages before you even land on them, reducing any possibility that you intentionally or accidentally click on a scam page that could seek to access log-in information or other sensitive details.
Also, ensure that any time you connect to public WiFi, you are using an open source and secure virtual private network (VPN) connection like Mullvad, which you can purchase for as little as $5 per month and which is extremely easy to set up. Public WiFi is notoriously insecure and allows for companies, providers, and bad actors to see your online activity and attempt to access your private information. A VPN acts as a layer of protection against unauthorized attempts to interfere with your browsing, and is highly effective at stopping this type of malicious activity.
Tip #7: Separate Information for Sign-Ups
Consider using separate emails for all financial account sign-ups. This method doesn’t mean you need to make a dozen Gmail accounts either. Services like SimpleLogin allow you to create email aliases that all forward to a main inbox but keep your personal email address hidden from companies and providers. Using aliases, or separate email accounts altogether, reduces how much of your real contact information is circulating for scammers to exploit.
In Conclusion
We live in a dangerous world when it comes to online privacy and the risk of falling prey to financial scams. However, there are solid and practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your information from getting into the wrong hands. You can speak with a First Light Financial advisor today on how best to secure your portfolio from malicious actors. See you next month!