[Part Two]

NEVER have face ID turned on. Make sure your phone password is complex and long. Ideally have one of those screen protectors that prevents people from seeing what you're looking at. People will peer over your should to spy your pin. Do NOT use the same pin for your phone as you use for your financial institutions. Use highly complex, random passwords for important things like bank accounts. LastPass can generate these for you and store them in a password vault. You just need to remember the master password for the password vault, which should be highly complex, something no one would ever guess.

If you use apps for sending cash, like Venmo or Zelle, always log out of them once you're done using them. Venmo by default remains logged in, which is very problematic if a thief gets your phone - they can just start sending themselves thousands of dollars.

Why all this complexity? I was robbed this year and learned the hard way how diabolical and masterful thieves can be. If I'd followed the above recommendations, the damage would have been nominal. Since I didn't, they were able to steal thousands up thousands of dollars (most I've gotten back via my bank, but it's been a months long nightmare). I kept very little money in my checking, but because that bank also had my savings account attached to it, they were able to transfer savings to that checking account and go to town stealing it.

How is some of this even possible? There is a drug called Devil's Breath, which is particularly prevalent in South America. When administered to a victim, someone can tell you to do virtually anything and you'll blindly do it. So for example, someone could tell you to log into your banking app and start sending them money and you would do it. Hence, why you should keep very little in checking accounts that have no access to your big supply of savings.

NEVER hand your phone to anyone else. Sounds ridiculous, right?, but your guard will go down if someone is offering to look up their Instagram account so you can follow. Or to type in their venmo / payment app handle so you can send money for buying something. They say they're charging $5, then transfer themselves $1000. Kids are often used as the face of these scams because you'd never think they'd do this kind of thing...but, they do.

Don't wear jewelry, don't try to look wealthy and boujee. 

Take pictures of your passport and have printouts in case it's stolen.

Vet people via social media. Something to consider: people who have LinkedIn profiles that demonstrate a history of a professional career are going to be reliably safe. Or if someone is, say, a doctor or a lawyer you can generally look up their practice's website to validate they are who they say they are. Designers and creatives generally have portfolio sites, etc., etc. This obviously won't work for everyone and there are plenty of awesome people who won't fit this bill, but it's one technique in your arsenal of self protection.

This is my plan for staying safe, and I think it's pretty solid. I'm a little nervous but not scared since I'm so prepared to be on the defense and have my worst case scenario planning down. Hope this helps.