Alright, buckle up and hold on to your helmets – we’re heading off on a cosmic journey that starts with Star Wars and ends in your bank account! I promise, even though the connection may seem as unlikely as Han Solo joining the Galactic Empire, it will all make sense!
—
Welcome to another thrilling extract from Dollar Scholar, your trusty financial newsletter with bite! The brainchild of newshound Julia Glum, Dollar Scholar arms you with all-you-need-to-know money advice in today’s galaxy. Don’t want to miss the next enlightening edition? Join our tribe of over 160,000 switched-on Scholars by signing up at /subscribe [/subscribe/dollar-scholar/].
—
Have you ever found work so taxing that by the time you log off, all you want to watch are the original Star Wars flicks? Well, that’s me lately. These awesome space odysseys are my go-to chill pill. I mean, who could resist the mesmerizing lightsaber duels and mind-boggling starships?
But every now and then, my overcaffeinated-brain interrupts my viewing party with some burning questions about Star Wars plotlines. Recently, it made me ask Google: ‘Why did R2-D2 never tell Luke the whole truth about Anakin (AKA his daddy Darth Vader)?’ Do you think everyone’s beloved little helper simply forgot or was it something more sinister?
Some Star Wars nerds reckon R2-D2 didn’t quite get the memo about Anakin joining the dark side, while some others argue that the truth was just too heartbreaking for our expressive droid to reveal. As for me? I believe R2-D2, being the loyalist that he is, held back to maintain confidentiality.
Speaking of confidentiality, have you ever seen your bank account number peppered with asterisks on your banking app and thought: ‘Why the unnecessary secrecy?’ Let’s ditch the Jedi mind tricks, roll up our sleeves and dissect this.
## Is there a need to keep my bank account info hush-hush?
Well, according to the all-wise U.S. law, particularly the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/6801] – absolutely yes! The law mandates banks to stand guard over your personal info like Jedi knights, shielding it from potential risks and keeping unauthorized intruders aka Siths at bay.
A popular force technique banks use is “masking” – a fancy term for disguising your sensitive info with special characters like asterisks. A wise IT Yoda named Terrie Cloud from Cornerstone Advisors [https://www.crnrstone.com/] lightsabers to us that the idea is simple: keep nosy parkers at arm’s length.
Suppose you’re checking your account balance onboard a flight. Obviously, you wouldn’t want the stranger seated next to you to catch a glimpse, right?
But hold up! Before you start having nightmares of some sly fox draining your moolah just by spotting your account number [/best-checking-accounts/], Eileen Tan, Chief Security Officer at Varo Bank, throws an unexpected reliever.
Tan clarifies that your account data is just one piece of the grand puzzle scammers use to mastermind identity heists. “Scammers are like Galactic traders, always collecting bits of personal data,” she adds. Once your info escapes into the web-iverse, there’s no getting it back.
If a bounty hunter, I mean, a stranger manages to snatch your bank info, connecting the dots to scourge out your phone number, or email is a walk in the Endor park. Avec that, they can effortlessly pocket your identity [/what-is-identity-theft/] faster than you could say “Chewbacca!”
Cloud’s two cents: Be cautious of classic scams, too. Imagine checking your Bank of America app while chilling at Starbucks – carelessly revealing the last four digits of your account number. That’s enough for lurking scammers to piece together the fact that you bank with BofA, you were at Starbucks at that precise moment, and your account ends with the digits 1234.
Suddenly, if you receive a call from someone who claims to be from BofA, mentions that Starbucks transaction, and reference the final four digits of your account – wouldn’t you be more likely to spill the beans about your other private details [/dollar-scholar-phone-number-fraud/]?
Tan’s sage advice: Keep those banking details closer to your chest than your prized Stormtrooper figurines. Sure, it’s okay to share for essential things like direct deposits at work, or IRS for taxes. But trust us; you don’t want to go handing out that info as freely as droids in Tatooine.
—
## FINAL THOUGHTS
Scammers aren’t to be underestimated. They’re as cunning and stubborn as Jabba the Hutt. Last we checked, they pushed a whopping 1.4 million Americans to report identity theft cases to the Federal Trade Commission [https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/02/new-data-shows-ftc-received-28-million-fraud-reports-consumers-2021-0] just last year.
So, while your bank account number isn’t quite Death Star codes, it’s savvy to keep it under key. If a scammer gets a hold of just your account number, it may not spell disaster, but as Tan reminds us, remember, “tons of personal info already circulates online and the dark web.” Why hand them the blaster?
—
**Newsletter**
Why not become a money Jedi with Dollar Scholar!
Every week, we deliver crucial money lessons, valuable tips, specialist insights, and you bet – even cuddly animal snaps to your inbox.
**Sign Up**
By hitting “Sign Up,” you’re giving us a thumbs up to send you Dollar Scholar newsletters and promotions. You’re also agreeing to our Terms of Use [/terms/], Privacy Notice [/privacy/], and allowing us to process your personal data.
**Sign Up**
—
**EVEN MORE FROM MONEY:**
– [Do I Need to Keep Changing My Debit Card PIN Every Five Minutes?](/how-often-change-debit-card-pin/)
– [Who’s Got the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Up for Grabs?](/best-high-yield-savings-accounts/)
– [Will Scribbling ‘See ID’ on My Credit Card Help Me Fend Off Fraud?](/dollar-scholar-see-id-credit-card/)