Kimberly Palmer: How to stay safe from financial scams

By KIMBERLY PALMER of NerdWallet

While there’s no way to guarantee you’ll completely avoid financial scams, there are steps you can take to reduce your chances of falling for one. Scammers tend to contact you first, create a false sense of urgency and then ask you to send money or share personal information. A good strategy to protect yourself is to verify the identity of anyone who contacts you and claims to be your bank by hanging up and placing a call to a confirmed number yourself. If you do come into contact with scammers, consider reporting them to the authorities and following up with your bank to attempt to recoup any losses.