Had Leanne Had Her Savings in Crypto...

Here's a good lesson and some tips on how to protect your savings from scammers.

So Leanna Battersby is a character in the ever-existing British Soap Coronation Street. What does she have to do with this? Well, the other week, she was scammed out of her savings of 25K pounds. In CAD that's $65K, a bit more than that though. It's a lot of money.

There was a guy staying at the local pub inn, where Leanne's sister is the owner. Leanne announced to her sister about wanting to go look around for flats and she mentioned her 25K pounds. Then the guy asks her on a date and seems interested in her. He talks about himself, his parents' names, where he grew up, pet names, and such, and Leanne does the same. This was him phishing for information that could be part of her passwords and security questions. Then he took her phone and disappeared.

When Leanne contacted the bank, after realising the scam, they told her that they sent a security text to her phone, the guy called the number with that code and answered all the correct questions, so they passed they money through for the transfer to another account. In other words, the money went to his account.

The BANK did not care that the person on the phone was NOT Leanne Battersby, a woman, because all the so-called security questions were being correctly answered. The Bank does not care about YOU or your money! Sorry if that sounds harsh, it's not meant to.

So here's the moral of the story and what to do:

• First of all, never, I mean NEVER reveal any amount of money you have in anything in front of anyone you don't know. Even if it's someone else's trusted friend, if it's not your trusted friend, don't reveal the amount. Don't even talk about your savings or fortune in front of people who are not your MOST trusted people. There are a handful of family members who have an idea of what I have, but the only person I truly see their numbers and who sees mine is Frank, because he's my husband.

• Make sure your security questions and passwords to bank information are not common knowledge or easily guessable.

Those two points are common sense and anyone will tell you that. I'm not a financial advisor so disclaimer blablabla, don't take my word for it, etc, make your own decision, but here's a speculative alternate scenario for Leanna Battersby.

Had her money been in Crypto currency instead of in the Bank, would it have been more secure? ONLY if not in an exchange. Meaning, best advice from a commoner crypto-enthusiast is to get a tangible crypto wallet, like the Ledger Nano S or the Trezor. Then make sure your key words are not easily guessable, and keep it in a secure place where no one else know where it is. NOT in your purse. Don't keep your security words in your phone either.

Imagine Leanna walking in and saying "I'm going to go visit some flats..." and mentions her 25K+ pounds fortune in front of that stranger anyway. He would have found out that her account in her bank has close to $0 and would have been confused.

From my personal experience and what I see a lot of people doing is they keep their crypto in crypto until they absolutely need it in fiat. They convert what they need and then they keep the rest in a tangible crypto wallet that is secure, in a hidden location which cannot be found or found out by any bank statements, or anything in anyone's phones or purses.

We need to protect our money and our crypto and these are just tricks to help. Had Leanne's fortune been in crypto, she would still have her savings, and probably now a flat of her own, for her and her kids.

But this is just my opinion and I'm not a financial advisor and I'm not telling anyone what they should do. I'm just speculating based on experience, observation, and a little crypto knowledge.