Phishing emails are becoming more and more sophisticated and despite all the advice that people get on how not to get scammed, people do. So, to protect ourselves against ourselves, I recommend a bank account firewall.

A bank firewall account is very simple, especially if you have an ING Direct account (or any bank account that lets you add sub-accounts easily). Open a new account with a $0 balance and use that account number to link to other services that require a funding source, like PayPal. If you are ever the victim of fraud, such as a phishing email or keystroke logger, the scammer that got access to your PayPal account can’t empty your bank account because it’s already empty.

While banks do offer protection if you are the victim of fraud, it still takes time to resolve. It’s better to have a firewall in place so that if you are scammed, they don’t get the money in your account.

Do you use a firewall account? If so, let us know and at what bank.

Jim writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com.

(Photo: epleitez)

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