Is It Love at First Sight or Do They Only Want...

...your DATA? Picture this, you're sitting at the local coffee shop, sipping a half-caf, skim, sugar-free mochawhosiwhatsit and this hot guy or gal is giving you "the look" across their laptop. Wow! This really is your lucky day. You continue sipping and doing your banking on the tablet you carry everywhere, making every effort to flirt with your soon-to-be soulmate. Suddenly, they jump up and head out the door. Your heart drops knowing you'll probably never see them again. Ugh, why didn't you say hi? Later that day your bank calls with some very bad news, somehow your account has been closed and you now have no money. WTF! And this is just the beginning of the bad news. Before you know it you're up to your elbows in attorney fees trying to get your identity back, all because you used the public wi-fi to pay your bills.

Luckily this scenario has not happened to me. What did happen was my purse was stolen once and the thieves cleaned out my checking account and ran up my credit cards purchasing gift certificates to spend later, all within an hour of the theft. Luckily they threw away my keys, drivers license and other identifying items that were in my purse. Because of fraud protection and my speed at reporting the loss, I was not liable for the purchases and I got my checking account money back. It was a painful incident and I learned to never hang my purse off the back of a chair, ANYWHERE. Still to this day I put my purse between my feet when at restaurants and only bring the bare necessities that fit in my pants pockets to bars.

So how do you protect yourself if you want to use the public wi-fi? You could simply not use electronic devices and read the paper or your book. You could make sure to bring a friend everywhere you go so you have someone to talk to at all times. Or if you really must use electronics, keep these things in mind:

• Avoid visiting sites that require you to log in with a username and password such as banking, email and social media sites.
• Look around you, is someone watching you intently? They are probably trying to see what you're typing and on what site. Sit in a way where observers can't see what you're typing and if you are in public places a lot, invest in a privacy screen.
• Use a VPN or virtual private network. This allows you to browse the internet and not be "seen" by the bad guys/gals.

Be smart and protect yourself, then just maybe that hot guy/gal will really turn out to be your soulmate.

How to Set Up a VPN