The convenience of sending or receiving an Interac e-Transfer† has easily made it one of the most common and preferred methods for send and receiving money.
Although Interac e-Transfer transactions are secure it’s essentially like sending cash, only virtually. As your financial partner, we make every effort to ensure that your money remains safe, but there are still some necessary precautions that you need to take. Use these 8 tips to keep your money secure.
- Set up Autodeposit
It might not seem more secure, but by allowing the funds to automatically deposit to your account, you’re eliminating the potential for that money to be intercepted by a fraudster and be gone for good. You can deactivate or change the associated email address at any time, if required.
- Accept incoming e-transfers as soon as possible
If you decide not to set up Autodeposit, make sure you accept those incoming funds right away. This again reduces the chances of it being intercepted by fraudsters.
- Use strong passwords
When sending an Interac e-Transfer, choose strong passwords that only the recipient will know the answer to and don’t send the answer in the notes section or via the same method that you’re using to send the transfer.
- Send outgoing Interac e-Transfers via email and cell phone
Sending notification using both methods will ensure that the recipient is notified sooner, allowing them to accept the funds quicker.
- Make sure your email account is secure
Ensuring that the email account associated with your Interac e-Transfer is protected and has a strong password, is a simple way to add an extra layer of security.
- Update your contacts
Clean up your Interac e-Transfer contacts regularly. Remove old contacts to ensure you don’t accidently send a transfer to someone in error and update existing contacts, if any of their information has changed.
- Always be sure who you’re sending funds to
Once the money is sent it’s gone, and your financial institution can’t pull it out of the recipients’ account or share their contact information.
- If you weren’t expecting it, there’s a good chance it’s not legitimate
The biggest red flag is, if you weren’t expecting money from someone or you don’t know who the sender is, it’s probably a scam – don’t click on the link! Do some digging before anything else and contact the sender to confirm. If you can’t confirm, contact your financial institution immediately to report it.
If you have questions related to sending or receiving an Interac e-Transfer, our advisors would be happy to help, give us a call at info@alphaguarantees.com, reach out to us via chat or stop by an advice centre.