Financial Abusers Are Using New Technology to Target Victims. Here’s What You Should Know

Online banking, digital payments and smartphone apps have made more convenient than financial matters, but also made it possible for domestic addicts to monitor, manipulate and control the financial life of their victims a decade ago, which were unimaginable a decade ago.

“Technology has introduced new avenues for financial misconduct,” Stephanie Love-Patterson, President of the National Network to and Domestic Violence (NNEDV), reported. Investopedia.

How addicts make the latest digital devices weapons

Traditional forms of economic control – such as stopping money or vandalizing your job – are still very common. But the new digital strategy is particularly worrying because they are more difficult to find out, leaving the target unknown that they are being monitored.

“Financial abuse includes a series of behavior involved, including restricting access to bank accounts, vandalizing employment opportunities, depositing loans in the name of the victim, and preventing basic requirements such as food and medicine,” said Love-Paterson.

Often, the goal of the addicts is not just financial control, but to ensure that their goals are not able to avoid the relationship.

Love-Paterson said that there are three main methods that recent technologies can increase financial misconduct:

• Digital monitoring and spyware: Absers often install monitoring software on phone, computer or tablet to track online activity. These spyware apps capture banking logins, monitor the spent patterns, and even record kestrokes that can reveal when the victims tried to seek help or apply for jobs. Some apps bring themselves to the market as a “family safety” tool, but act as a surveillance system for abusers.
• Kidnapping online financial accounts, “Absers can restrict access to online banking, change passwords, or monitor financial activities without the knowledge of the victim,” said Love-Patterson. This may include changing safety questions, adding new email addresses for account recovery, or setting alerts that inform any financial activity addicts.
• Employment sabotage through digital channels: Luv-Patterson said that “through digital means, abusers can interfere with job applications or professional communication, obstruct the financial freedom of the target.” This may include removing job related emails, changing professional passwords, or even applying its partners in workplace communication.

Save yourself from digital financial misconduct

If you suspect technical financial misuse, Love-Paterson insisted that the safety is paramount while taking protective action. Nnedv recommends these required stages:

1. Secure your digital footprint: Change passwords for all financial accounts and password managers cannot access abuser using a device, such as a computer or a reliable friend’s phone in the library. Ensure that password recovery options such as safety questions and backup email addresses are updated and safe.
2. Use only safe equipment: Love-Patterson only recommended “financial information from Access (ING) from devices that cannot monitor the abuser.” This means that to avoid shared computers and phones that can have as many unknown apps as possible.
3. Work with advocates who understand technology: Love-Patterson suggested that you find guidance from domestic violence advocates who can help in planning a security plan. It can include those who know how to deal with any technical and legal issues, including you women’s law email hotline, said. Many advocates now receive special training in technology-competent misuse.

Bottom line

“Financial misconduct can be harmful as physical abuse, often implicating victims in derogatory relationships due to economic dependence,” said Love-Patterson. Now, the latest technologies have given powerful new equipment to financial misbehavior for monitoring and control, making it difficult to identify compared to traditional financial misuse.

Helping to protect yourself means using safe equipment, securing your digital accounts, and working with advocates who not only understand how digital techniques can be used to enable misuse, but can help you remind you that you are not alone. “If someone feels unsafe or controlled, it is valid to seek this help,” said Love-Paterson.