Guard Your Card – STOP Fraud
Protect And Secure Your Information
Phishing and Smishing
Phishing (emails) and smishing (text messages) are commonly sent to individuals receiving government benefits. These messages often contain threats that benefits will be stopped if the person doesn’t respond by clicking a provided link.
Never click on links that you receive through texts or emails unless it comes from a known, reliable, and expected source. Also watch out for fake or fraudulent email addresses and websites. Criminals use slight differences to trick your eye and gain your trust. Look carefully at the email address, links, and general correspondence for spelling errors. ODJFS will never ask you for your password.
If you receive a text or email you believe may be fraudulent, don’t click on any links. Instead, log into your account to see if you have any messages. Also check this website or the USDA fraud website for any alerts about recent scams.
Password Security
Don’t reuse passwords or PINs.
- You should have separate passwords and PINs for personal and business accounts. There are many Password Manager software solutions available to help you do this easily.
- Don’t use sequences such as 1234 or repetitions like 1111; avoid birthdays, driver’s license number, or Social Security number, current telephone numbers, street address, apartment, or home address.
Don’t share your passwords.
- Never share your password with friends or family.
- Use Multi-Factor Authentication. Whenever possible always enable Multi-Factor Authentication, 2 Factor Authentication, or Step-up authentication.
- Security Questions: Make sure to use unique and hard to guess Security and Account recovery questions, especially on your financial, government, and email applications.
Social Media Accounts
- Be careful how much information you share on social media accounts. This information (also sourced from quizzes or games, etc.) can be used by hackers and online thieves to attempt to steal your identity and gain unauthorized access to your financial and other accounts.
- Make sure you enable privacy settings on your accounts and posts to prevent oversharing to those with whom you did not intend to share.
EBT Card Lock and Unlock
Ohioans have a quick and easy way to protect their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. Use the new Card Lock/Unlock feature to secure your food benefits today! Click here to learn more.
See Something, Say Something
We take securing your data seriously, if you see something wrong or questionable, please say something! Reach out to us, we try every day to improve our security controls and processes.
