You will complete every anti-scam setting from this module for each bank account you hold.
Plenty of people watch lessons 7.1 to 7.3, nod along, and then set up none of it. The settings live in different corners of different apps, and once the lesson closes, a clear list of jobs fades into something you'll get round to one weekend.
This exercise turns it into a finished job. You'll go bank by bank, set every defence from this module, and tick each one off. Plan for about thirty minutes if you have two or three banks, plus time afterwards to do the same for a parent or older relative.
Before you start, have three things ready: your phone, each bank's app logged in, and the cards for each account so you can read the hotline numbers off the back.
Make one copy of this list for each bank you use, and one for your phone.
ScamShield: installed from the official app store, SMS filtering on, call blocking on. Savings lock: Money Lock or your bank's equivalent set on each main savings account, with the amount recorded. Transfer limit: daily digital transfer limit lowered to what you actually need, with the new figure recorded. Alerts: transaction alerts set to the lowest threshold the bank allows, and sent to a phone number and email you actually check. Hotline and freeze: the bank's official hotline saved in your contacts, and the location of its emergency freeze noted.
ScamShield is done once per phone. Everything else is done once per bank.
Start with ScamShield, because it covers your whole phone. If you haven't installed it yet, search for it in the App Store or Play Store yourself, install it, and follow the setup until SMS filtering and call blocking are both on. If it's already installed, open it and confirm both are active. On an iPhone, also check in Settings, under Messages and Phone, that ScamShield is switched on as a filter and call blocker. Lesson 7.1, ScamShield: filter scam calls and messages, explains what each does.
Then take your banks one at a time. Begin with whichever one holds the most money.
Set the savings lock first. Using the split from lesson 7.2, work out how much to keep free for spending and bills, and lock the rest. Find the feature in your banking app, often under accounts or security, or on your bank's website if it's not obvious. Write down the amount you locked and how the bank says you can release it.
Next, lower the transfer limit. Look at your recent transfers, pick a daily limit a little above your normal largest one, and set it. Write the new figure on your checklist.
Then set alerts. Find the notification or alert settings, set the threshold for outgoing transactions to the lowest your bank allows, and check the phone number and email they go to. While you're there, make sure notifications for the banking app are switched on in your phone's own settings.
Finally, save the hotline and find the freeze. Read the hotline number off the back of your card or from the bank's official website, and save it in your contacts with a clear name, so it is where lesson 2.3 said it should be: reachable without searching. Then find the emergency freeze in the app and write down where it is, for example "Profile, then Security, then Freeze accounts".
Tick each line as you finish it. Then move to the next bank.
Here is an illustration of one completed checklist. The person and figures are made up.
Kumar, 35, has accounts with two banks. Bank A holds his salary and savings. Bank B holds an older account with S$3,000 he rarely touches.
ScamShield: already installed, but call blocking was off. He turns it on. Done.
Bank A. Savings lock: he has S$31,000. He spends about S$3,000 a month, so he keeps S$7,000 free and locks S$24,000. The bank's website says a release needs a branch visit. Transfer limit: it was S$25,000. His largest regular transfer is S$1,500 to his parents, so he sets S$3,000. Alerts: the threshold was S$500, and he lowers it to the bank's minimum. While he's in that screen he notices the alerts were going to an email he stopped using two years ago, and he changes it to his current one. Hotline: saved as "Bank A official hotline". Freeze: in the app under the security menu.
Bank B. Savings lock: the bank offers one, but the minimum amount is above his balance there, so he notes "not available" and moves on. Transfer limit: lowered from S$10,000 to S$500, since he never sends money from this account. Alerts: set to the minimum. Hotline: saved. Freeze: he can't find it in the app, so he calls the hotline and asks, and writes down the answer, which is a help menu he'd never opened.
Total time: about twenty-five minutes. Kumar now has two pages of ticks and a record of what he changed, which he'll use when he builds his household kit for the final project.
Older relatives are among the people scammers target most, and they're often the least likely to change these settings on their own. Sit with them and let them hold the phone while you go through the same checklist. Explain each step in plain words as you go.
Decide the lock amount together. Ask what they spend each month and which bills they pay by transfer, and let them choose the figure. Write the hotline and freeze location on paper as well, since they may not remember where it is in the app under stress.
You have your checklist and the order to work in. Start with ScamShield, then your largest bank, and keep going until every line has a tick.
Work through the checklist for every bank you use, tick each item, and repeat it for one parent or older relative.
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