Messy wallets a boon for ID thieves

TAKE a peek inside your wallet or purse ... Its contents might make it a dangerous liability.

From a stack of cash and piles of cards to folded-up personal documents and receipts, consumers multiply their potential losses if they don’t clean it out regularly.

Finance literacy platform MoneyBites’s director, Kate Crowhurst, warned that stashing house keys in a wallet or purse could wreak havoc.

“If you lose your wallet and you put your house keys in there, someone not only has your address but has also got a way in,” Ms Crowhurst said. “So that puts you massively at risk.”

In a scammer’s hands, a bank statement could cause “terrible” problems, Ms Crowhurst said.

Money transfer identity verification often involves reciting recent purchases a statement logs, yet people often fold the sensitive documents into their purses.

“That’s your BSB number, your account number, and your recent transactions,” Ms Crowhurst said.

Bank cards, Medicare cards and identity cards could add up to 100-plus ID points, she said, and also warned of exposing your birth date.

Functional design specialist Steve Molloy, who runs app development firm Lomah, said credit cards and cash left consumers more vulnerable than mobile payments.

He also warned against holding numerous cards. Carry a lot and you may fumble and pick the wrong one, because most look the same, with the exception of neo banks. Mr Molloy said neobank Xinja and Apple’s cards were “two amazing credit cards which can be easily distinguished”.

A stack of receipts could expose your buying habits and allow criminals to use your cards without raising red flags. And never keep a written record of your PINs and passwords.

Mr Molloy said, increasingly, banks were taking a tough line and refusing a refund if a code was filed in a wallet. This applies even if the PIN is disguised.

And he said people should minimise the cash they carried.

“Having more than $700 in your wallet is unnecessary for day-to-day living,” Mr Molloy said.. “Have half of your notes in $50s – the rest should be made up of $20s and $10s,” he said.