It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October! Maybe you’ve seen the various recommendations about how to keep yourself safe online. Many of those tips are good practices to consider.

But as a regular person, there are three ways you’re most likely to hit trouble with technology in your day-to-day life.

1. A scam slips in through a text or email and you lose money.
2. A password you’ve reused across accounts gets stolen and used against you (you lose money, suffer anxiety, or more).
3. Someone cons you into paying with gift cards (and you lose money).

Here’s how each works and what to keep an eye on.

Scams dressed just close enough to look real in your email and texts

A courier shows up at your door, uniform just a bit off—maybe the colors aren’t quite right, or the logo is slightly crooked.

He’s in a hurry, waving an unexpected package. “Just sign here,” he says. It looks legit enough, so you open the door.

That’s how phishing works. A scam email or text, carefully crafted to seem familiar—right name, right brand—hoping you won’t stop to think.

But after you click that link or download that file, the door starts to swing open for thieves, as their next step is to trick you to sign in (stealing your password) or approve backdoor access to your account.

Always inspect the uniform. Real couriers (or companies) won’t mind if you take your time.

Reusing passwords is like using the same key for your doors as your bank vault

One key opens your house, your car, your office, and your safe. It makes life easy—until someone else gets hold of it.

The first time you misplace that key, the person who finds it doesn’t just rob your house; they take your whole life. That’s what happens when you reuse passwords.

Hackers love it—one breach, and they’re not just into your email. They’ve got your social media, your banking, maybe even work accounts.

They don’t need to crack anything; they just walk through unlocked doors. Use different passwords, or better yet, let a password manager handle the keys.

Gift card payments are a dead giveaway for a scam

You’re wandering through a crowded bazaar when you spot a vendor with a table full of deals too good to be true.

“Only gift cards,” he says. You hand them over, and the second you do, the whole stall vanishes—no vendor, no goods, no way to get your money back.

That’s what scammers count on. They ask for payment through gift cards or sketchy payment portals because once the money’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Real businesses don’t work this way. If someone insists on gift cards, you’re not buying anything—you’re just getting taken for a ride.

Gift cards are perfect for scammers because they’re untraceable and irreversible.

When someone asks you to pay this way—whether it’s for a fake prize, a phony debt, or a too-good-to-be-true deal—they aren’t running a business. They’re running a con.

There you have it. There are many more but these are three ways most people are going to be affected by cybersecurity issues online. Emails and texts tricking you, stolen passwords, and gift card scams. Keep a vigilant eye, and trust - but verify.

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