What To Know About “Shoulder Surfing” In Montana

Ready or not, the busiest shopping season of the year is all but here. Sure, we have Halloween and Thanksgiving to get through but even those holidays can involve quite a bit of shopping.

For some people, it's all about Amazon or shopping online while the rest of us prefer doing things the "classic" way... shopping in-store.

Are You Out And About Shopping? Watch Your... Shoulder?

Many of us are familiar with the red flags that come with someone scheming to steal our personal information, right? We see it all the time in the form of "phishing" in fake emails, robocalls from unknown numbers, and even phony text messages threatening us with late "toll booth fees."

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To put it simply, we have to watch our backs... and/or shoulders.

It sounds unusual but it's an actual thing that happens in stores and if we're not careful, any of us could become a victim of what's called "shoulder surfing."

What Is "Shoulder Surfing" And Why Are Thieves Doing It?

Unfortunately, people with bad intentions can live anywhere. It doesn't matter where they are, what they do, etc... if someone wants to break the law and commit a crime, they'll find a way to do it.

There's no making sense of it and all we can do about it is watch our backs and watch out for each other.

According to Experian, "shoulder surfing is a method of identity theft where thieves steal your personal data while spying over your shoulder."

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Experts say this can happen at ATMs, gas pumps, and even at work according to LifeLock. To protect yourself, it's suggested to have different pins for different accounts, protecting your screen, and even covering the keypad when inputting your PIN. You can never be too careful, especially if the would-be thief is using their phone or other camera to film you using your card.

Be safe out there!