Lock the Digital Door

A plain guide to keeping your home, your money and your family safe online, and offline too

From Connor MacIvor. 20 years with the LAPD. Santa Clarita Realtor since 1998.

Start here: you already trust more than you think

You lock your front door every night. You don't hand your house key to a stranger.

But every day, we trust things without noticing. The mailbox. The phone. The Wi-Fi box in the hallway. The "I agree" button we tapped without reading.

None of that makes you careless. These systems were built to be easy, not safe. This guide walks through each one, step by step. For each step you get three things:

1. Why it matters, in one real example.
2. What to do, in short steps.
3. How to check it yourself. Don't take my word for it. Each step tells you how to double-check and triple-check.

The one rule that covers almost everything:

If someone contacts you and wants money, a code or a password, stop. Hang up. Call them back on a number you already know is real. Not the number they gave you.

How big is this? In 2025, people age 60 and over reported $7.7 billion in losses to the FBI. That is more than any other age group, and up 59 percent in one year. California had more reported losses than any other state. Check it: FBI Internet Crime Report 2025, at ic3.gov.

Rung 1: Even with no internet, you are still connected

Some people say, "I'm not online, so I'm safe." Not quite.

Your mail. Thieves steal checks from mailboxes. They wash off the ink and write in a new name and a bigger amount. It's called check washing.

• Mail checks inside the post office, or in a blue box before the last pickup.
• Don't leave mail in your box overnight.
• Write checks in indelible black ink, like a black gel pen. It is much harder to wash off.
• Check it: U.S. Postal Inspection Service, uspis.gov, search "check washing." Report mail theft: (877) 876-2455.

Your phone line. Scam calls don't need the internet. For people 80 and over, phone calls cause the biggest losses of any scam type. Check it: Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ftc.gov.

Your information is already out there. Companies called data brokers collect and sell your name, address, age and relatives, whether or not you ever went online.

• California has a free tool to tell all of them at once to delete your information. It's called DROP.
• Sign up: consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov (California residents only).
• Check it: the state privacy agency's page, privacy.ca.gov/drop.

Rung 2: Your phone number is a key

Your bank and your email send codes to your phone. If a thief moves your number to their phone, they get your codes. This is called a SIM swap.

Warning sign: your phone suddenly has no service, and you didn't change anything.

What to do:

1. Call your phone company at the number on your bill.
2. Ask for two things: a PIN on your account, and a free "number lock" that stops anyone from moving your number or changing your SIM card.
3. Write the PIN down and keep it somewhere safe at home, not on your phone.

Check it: The FCC's SIM swap tip card, at fcc.gov (search "SIM swap"). Federal rules now require phone companies to offer this kind of lock for free.

Rung 3: Your home Wi-Fi is your front door

You would never leave your front door unlocked. An open Wi-Fi network is the digital version. Anyone parked outside can get on it.

What to do:

1. Find the box. Your router is the box with blinking lights that the internet company installed.
2. Put a password on your Wi-Fi. It should be long, like a short sentence you'll remember: "BlueHouseOakStreet2026!"
3. Change the router's own password. This is a different password: the one that opens the router's settings. Many routers come with a factory password that thieves can look up online.
4. Turn on the strongest lock. In the settings, choose "WPA3." If you don't see it, choose "WPA2 (AES)."
5. Turn on automatic updates if your router has them.
6. Turn off "WPS" and "remote management." Those are shortcuts that make the door easier to open, for you and for strangers.

Don't know how? Call your internet company and ask them to walk you through steps 2 through 6. Or ask a family member you trust. You don't have to do it alone.

Check it: The government's cyber defense agency (CISA), at cisa.gov, page "Home Network Security." Or the FTC's guide "How to Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network," at consumer.ftc.gov.

Rung 4: Smart devices are windows

Doorbell cameras, security cameras, smart TVs and speakers all connect to your Wi-Fi. Each one is another window into your home.

What to do:

1. Change any factory password the device came with.
2. Turn on updates, and check for them every few months.
3. Turn on two-step login for the device's app (more on that next).
4. Unplug old devices that no longer get updates.

A real example of what you agree to: in March 2025, Amazon removed a setting on some Echo speakers that kept your voice recordings on the device. Now every request you say to Alexa goes to Amazon's computers.

Check it: FTC, "Securing Your Internet-Connected Devices at Home," at consumer.ftc.gov. Amazon's change was reported by the Associated Press.

Rung 5: Your email is the master key

If someone gets into your email, they can reset almost every other password you have: bank, Social Security, shopping.

What to do:

1. Turn on two-step login for your email and your bank. After your password, the site sends a code or asks your phone to approve. A thief who steals your password still can't get in.
2. Use a different password for each important account. A password manager is a safe, locked notebook that remembers them for you. Or use a paper notebook kept at home.
3. Never type a code from a text into a website or read it to a caller unless you started the login yourself.

Check it: Log in to your email the way you normally do. Look for "Security" in the settings and find "two-step" or "2-step verification."

Rung 6: A voice you love, and it isn't them

New tools can copy a person's voice from a short video clip. Scammers call grandparents with a voice that sounds just like a grandchild: "I'm in trouble, I need money, don't tell Mom."

What to do:

1. Hang up and call back on the number you already have for that person. This is the FTC's own advice.
2. Pick a family safe word. It's a word only your family knows. If a caller can't say it, it isn't them. This is a common-sense tip from us, not official FTC advice, but it works.
3. Slow down. Pressure and secrecy ("don't tell anyone") are the scammer's tools.

Check it: FTC consumer alert, "Scammers use AI to enhance their family emergency schemes," at consumer.ftc.gov.

Rung 7: The fine print you already said yes to

Every app and service has terms of service: the long page we skip when we tap "I agree." Here's what a few of them actually say, quoted from the companies' own pages:

• Netflix: most disputes go to arbitration, not court. In their words: "THERE IS NO JUDGE OR JURY IN ARBITRATION." You may opt out of arbitration, but you "may not opt out of the separate class action waiver." That means you can't join other customers in a group lawsuit.
• Facebook: when you post a photo, you give Meta a "non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license" to use it, until you delete it.

You don't have to read every word of every agreement. Just know the three things to look for: who can use your stuff, who they share your information with, and whether you can go to court.

Check it: Search "Netflix terms of use" and "Facebook terms." Read the sections on arbitration, licenses and data.

Home stretch: your house is your biggest asset

Deed theft is real. Thieves file fake documents to "sell" or borrow against a home they don't own. Seniors and owners of paid-off homes are frequent targets.

What to do in Los Angeles County:

1. LA County's Homeowner Notification Program mails you copies of documents recorded on your home, like an ownership change, a new loan or a default notice. That lets you catch something fake fast.
2. Sign up for the email version, e-Notification, through the County Assessor: assessor.lacounty.gov (search "eNotification").
3. It notifies you; it doesn't block anything. If you see a document you don't recognize, call the county's help line at (800) 593-8222 right away.

Check it: the County Registrar-Recorder's own page at lavote.gov, search "Homeowner Notification Program." California passed a law requiring every county to offer a fraud alert like this by January 1, 2027.

Wire fraud at closing. When you buy or sell a home, scammers send fake emails that look like your escrow company: "Our wiring instructions changed."

1. Never wire money from instructions in an email or text alone.
2. Call your escrow or title company at a number you looked up yourself, or the one on your original paperwork, and confirm the instructions out loud.
3. If you already sent money to the wrong place, call your bank right away and ask them to stop or reverse the wire. Then report it at ic3.gov. Speed matters: the first 72 hours give the best chance.

Check it: FTC, "What To Know Before You Wire Money," at consumer.ftc.gov. FBI, "Business Email Compromise," at fbi.gov.

Your 10-minute checklist

Tape this to the fridge.

• I know the one rule: hang up and call back on a number I already have.
• My Wi-Fi has a long password.
• My router's own factory password is changed.
• My phone company account has a PIN and a number lock.
• My email and bank have two-step login turned on.
• My family has a safe word.
• My smart devices' factory passwords are changed, and old ones are unplugged.
• I mail checks inside the post office and write them with a black gel pen.
• I signed up for LA County e-Notification on my home.
• I signed up for California DROP to delete my data from brokers.
• Before any wire, I call to confirm at a number I looked up myself.

Questions? Want this talk for your church, club or senior center?

It's free. No sales pitch. Call or text Connor: (661) 400-1720.

This guide is general education, not legal or financial advice. Facts checked November 9, 2026, against the FBI, FTC, FCC, CISA, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the State of California and Los Angeles County. Rules and settings change; when in doubt, call the agency or company at its official number.

Practice it: play Hang Up. Call Back.