When it comes to the things we might experience during the month of March, it’s safe to say that we won’t be gathering at an Irish pub and enjoying a pint of Guinness or filling out a March Madness bracket in celebration of National Credit Education Month.

Of course, as fun as those things can be (right?), it wouldn’t be the kind of activities that you’d necessarily want to mix together; especially if you’re looking to brush up on your finance skills, or wanting to make sure your credit is well protected, so as to avoid being the victim of an online scam.

Created in 1989 by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the purpose of National Credit Education Month is actually worth celebrating as it’sintended to provide all of us with an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the importance of credit and why having good credit is essential.

With that in mind, there’s plenty at stake when you consider:

• In the fourth quarter of 2024, the credit card debt in the United States reached an all-time high of $1.21 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
• Unsecured personal loan debt hit a record $249 billion in the third quarter of 2024, with the average outstanding balance peaking even higher by the fourth quarter to $11,829, according to the credit reporting agency TransUnion.
• It’s not getting any better for businesses, as the types of AI tools that bolstered scams in 2024 through deepfakes, image, document, and text generation and automation, will be applied to the creation and use of even more sophisticated synthetic identities in fraud schemes targeting government and private organizations at a higher rate.

The fact is, when it comes to inviting themselves to the party, cybercriminals will try and use a variety of financial scams to help themselves to your good credit, such as:

• Email is the most common form of a scam, followed by phone and text messages.
• And they target all of us – regardless of age, income or education level, gender or race.
• What’s more, while people often think older adults are more susceptible to scams, that isn’t always the case.
  • A recent survey by Bankrate found that while older generations, such as baby boomers and Generation Xers, are more likely to have experienced a scam, younger generations are more likely to suffer financial losses. More than half of Gen Zers, who encountered a scam in the past year lost money, followed by 45 percent of millennials, 32 percent of Gen Xers, and 26 percent of baby boomers.

Keep in mind, too, that just as planning a memorable party requires a lot of work, avoiding a financial scam requires some diligence to protect yourself and your loved ones. There are several helpful tips to follow including:

• Keep an eye on your credit score. If your credit score changes for no reason you can think of, it could be due to a hard pull instigated by someone trying to open an account in your name. Monitoring your credit score enables you to pick up fraudulent activity before it gets out of hand. Check your credit score for free.
• If you get a call from someone you do not know, don’t answer it.
• Do not share your personal information, especially with anyone who randomly emails or calls you, asking for it.
• Never click links in texts, emails or pop-up ads. If you are concerned, go to the organization’s website and contact them through their contact page.
• Monitor your bank account, online accounts and credit score regularly.
• Lock down your social media accounts to “Only Friends” and be careful who you accept as a friend. Scammers only need 15 seconds of your voice or photos from social media accounts to create deep fakes and attempt to extort you and/or your loved ones.

It’s no secret that business and work-related online scams also can take many forms. This is particularly true if you’re part of a small business. Among the resources that are out there, with good advice on avoiding these scams, can also be found on Business.com, and the FBI.

Here in Indiana, there are a lot of free resources to help you avoid being a victim of a scam or a cybercrime, such as identify theft, or what is known as a business email compromise. You can also visit the "Take Immediate Actions" page on the Indiana Cyber Hub website for help with everything from requesting a “credit freeze” through the Attorney General’s office to placing a fraud alert with any of the three credit bureaus.

As with a lot of things in life, it can be tough, at times, to do everything we can to keep our personal and financial information safe and protected. But, hey, now that you’ve had a chance to learn a little more about why March is National Credit Education Month, maybe there IS a reason to celebrate!