December Monthly Message from the FDIC
It’s December and the holiday shopping season is underway. According to the FDIC Consumer News, December is a good time to think about protecting your personal information while you are online. As we spend more time online, it is important to stay safe and to think about protecting personal information.
If you are planning on teaching Money Smart sessions, please consider sharing information about protecting your identity and avoiding scams while online. To learn more, please read the following resources:
- FDIC How Money Smart Are You? - Reduce the Risk of Identity Theft
- FDIC How Money Smart Are You? - Protecting Your Identity and Other Assets
Join us on social media using the #FDICMoneySmart and show us the Money Smart products in action!
Money Smart and Scams
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), approximately 12,000 consumers lost nearly $73 million due to scams during the 2022 holiday season. Money Smart provides helpful tools and modules to educate consumers about identity theft and other types of scams.
Students as young as high school freshmen can learn about identity theft and scams from Money Smart for Young People Module 20 - Protect Yourself. From phishing, pharming, and text messaging scams to detecting employment fraud, students learn how to spot the deceptions. After learning about different ways that their identity might be compromised, students learn about consumer protection laws and discover ways to prevent identity theft.
- Money Smart for Young Adults, Module 9- Protecting Your Money and Your Identity, helps students identify risks to their assets and ways to reduce those risks.
- Money Smart for Adults, Module 11- Protecting Your Identity and Other Assets, shows students ways to recognize, respond to, and reduce the risks of identity theft, along with strategies for protecting other assets.
- Money Smart for Older Adults, raises awareness among older adults and their caregivers on how to prevent fraud, scams, and other elder financial exploitation. The curriculum encourages advanced planning and informed financial decision-making.
If you want to include fake job offer scams and scams against immigrants, you can find information at Scams and Identity Theft | consumer.gov.
To supplement your Money Smart Modules, you can use videos like FDIC Explains: Phishing and FDIC Explains: Scam Calls. You can also use the FDIC Consumer News articles: Scammers and Fake Banks, Avoid Scams While Shopping Online for Bargains and Avoiding Scams and Scammers.
You can find Protecting Your Identity and Other Assets in How Money Smart Are You? if you prefer playing games while you learn.
Another game to supplement the FDIC Money Smart lessons and help consumers, is the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s The Three D's of Identity Theft.
Other helpful resources:
- FDIC: Cybersecurity
- Federal Trade Commission: Keep your money safe from gift card scammers this holiday season.
- Federal Trade Commission: What to know about holiday gift returns
- Federal Trade Commission: So an online scam is NOT what you ordered?
- Federal Trade Commission: How To Protect Your Child from Identity Theft
- Federal Trade Commission: Report Identity Theft
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Protecting Against and Recovering from Identity Theft and Scams
Success Story
U.S. Army Sergeant Major (Retired) Jesse Cavalier is busy. After retiring from the Army, Cavalier wanted to give back to his community, especially youth. When he realized that many young people in his community were not financially informed, he set about looking for a solution. After contacting the FDIC to discuss the Money Smart financial education program, Cavalier organized a large group of volunteers from the Renew Church in Baker, Louisiana, to help implement his vision of bringing financial education to his community. On February 24, 2024, the FDIC led a Money Smart for Young Adults train-the-trainer session for eighteen volunteers.
Cavalier and the volunteers created a yearlong schedule to teach the twelve Money Smart for Young Adults (MSYA) modules. Volunteers signed up for one or more monthly sessions. He felt that it was important that the volunteers not be overburden by asking that they sign-up for multiple sessions, but he was pleasantly surprised when numerous volunteers signed up for two or more sessions. Within weeks of attending the train-the-trainer sessions, volunteers held their first session with twelve youth and young adult attendees. Cavalier and the volunteers want to make sure the youth are financially prepared to go to college or to buy a car. The young people, who have bank accounts with debit cards, after going through the Bank On It module, have a better understanding of managing their accounts. This group of participants have completed half of the modules. Once they finish the program in early 2025, they will receive a stipend.
Cavalier said that he has seen the results of the training. “One participant,” Cavalier said, “knew his mother had come into some money. After the module on saving, he went home to find out his mother had put her money in a regular savings account. Together, they went to the bank and moved the money to CDs and a money market account.”
Due to the program’s success, they started offering classes to adults. Their current students range in ages from 41 to 93. To supplement the training, the adults get one-on-one coaching. After completing the budget module, participants were encouraged to keep receipts of their monthly expenditures. They will go through them with their coach to develop a spending and saving plan. “Money Smart has been very useful in having these conversations,” said Cavalier.
Renew Church’s financial education program did not end there. Cavalier hosted an FDIC Financial Literacy session on September 28, 2024, with veterans. In October, he provided financial literacy at Soar Community Church Men’s Conference to approximately 100 participants.
Due to their success, other churches in their community have reached out to Cavalier to learn more about the Money Smart program. “We have been very successful using the Money Smart and other FDIC resources,” said Cavalier. “I would tell others using Money Smart to know your audience. Spend less time on lecture and more time on hands-on application.”
Latest FDIC Consumer News Edition
The December 2024 FDIC Consumer News article titled: What you Should Know About Gift Cards provides information on gift cards and how they can be a convenient present for the holidays and special occasions. While they seem simple, it is important that both the giver and the recipient read the details for each card to avoid any misunderstandings.
Tips and Techniques
The old saying goes: a good speech has three parts: 1) tell them what you are going to tell them, 2) tell them what you want to tell them, and 3) tell them what you told them. As found in FDIC Money Smart instructional materials, outlining a module’s learning objectives, and reemphasizing key points throughout the presentation—and at its conclusion—will provide participants with the key takeaways intended.
For more consumer resources, visit FDIC.gov, or go to the FDIC Knowledge Center. You can also call the FDIC toll-free at 1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342). Please send your story ideas or comments to MoneySmartNews@fdic.gov. You can subscribe to this and other free FDIC publications to keep informed!