on this episode of the personal finance podcast,

how to protect your finances online right now.

What's up, everybody, and welcome to the Personal Finance Podcast.

I'm your host, Andrew from MasterMoney.com.

And today on the Personal Finance Podcast, we're going to talk about how to protect your finances online right now.

If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money newsletter by going to MasterMoney.com. And don't forget to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube,

or whatever your favorite podcast player is. And if you want to help out the show,

consider leaving a five-star rating and

review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Now, today, I'm going to be diving

into how to protect your finances online. Now, this is one of the most important things that people

need to have this year and beyond is making sure you have a plan in place to protect your finances online.

And there are a number of reasons why you need to make sure that this happens.

First, is there are record high identity theft in data breaches.

In 2024, identity theft hit an all-time high with millions of personal records stolen

due to data breaches from major companies, hospitals,

and even government systems. And your data is likely already out there, and criminals can use

this information to either drain your bank account, open credit cards in your name, or file false tax

returns. And all of these are happening more and more and more. But also, AI-powered scams are

everywhere. And scammers are now using AI to mimic voices. They're generating fake emails. They

create hyper-realistic fishing websites and one wrong click and you're handing over sensitive

financial info. You can no longer just trust your eyes and ears with layer protection.

You must make sure

...