Protect yourself at all times

TUNDE OYEDOYIN  

Tunde Oyedoyin is a London-based personal finance coach and founder of Money Intelligence Coaching Academy, a specialist academy of personal finance. He can be reached as follows: +447846089587 (WhatsApp only); E-mail: tu5oyed@gmail.com

Early last week, I’d figured out what this week’s column was going to be until Tuesday morning , when I had the chance to read the previous day’s cover story of the Metro Newspaper of Monday, October 21.

“9 million of us scammed ,” was splashed on the front page and on top of that revealing report was a little rider, “online con epidemic revealed.” That story moved the needle. Thus, the other piece went to the reservoir.

Anyone familiar with boxing would have noticed that the title of today’s column has something in common with the very heart of boxing.

Reason being that before any contest, the referee summons the two fighters and their teams to the middle of the ring to give the final instructions. The most important of them is that you must “protect yourself at all times.” It’s the first principle of the sport. No matter who the boxer is, if they leave themselves open, the opponent will definitely take advantage and cash in big time.

When Anthony Joshua attempted becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion in his fight against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium last month, he wasn’t protecting himself at all times. His adversary smelled blood from the opening round. Not surprisingly, the dream was over in the fifth round when that counter punch from his East Londoner opponent landed flush on our man’s chin. It was game over. Had his hands been up immediately he threw a punch at Dubois, perhaps the story would have been different.

Here’s the thing. Joshua’s not the only one who’s guilty of leaving himself open. As evident by the cover story of the Metro newspaper cited earlier, nine million Britons have been victims of online scammers in the past year. According to the report, “almost one in five people has been the victim of a finance scam in the past year – an astonishing 9 million of us.”

Folks, here are three ways you can stop the scammers from feasting on your money. Firstly, don’t go into any online trading, except you’re a sophisticated investor and coupled with having adequate training under your belt. Secondly, stay out of everything crypto for now and if you must, please go through an authorised broker. Don’t forget to not listen to any tips from online experts.

Lastly, thou shall not respond to any unsolicited messages, calls or emails asking you to change your password. Got two emails in the past week from a bogus Apple account asking me to change my password as some unauthorised purchase had been made from my account. It was fake news. Didn’t bother, though. The balance was intact.

Every Little Helps: Last week, an email from Corporation Registrars landed in my inbox.

It reads, “Access Holdings Plc has approved the Interim Dividend of ₦0.45 kobo (Forty-Five Kobo) for every ordinary share of N0.50 kobo each, …to be paid to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at the close of business on Thursday, October 3rd, 2024.”

Though not what may buy you a takeaway lunch at many fast food outlets in Lagos, the main thing is that every little helps, as Tesco would say.

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