By David Liu, PHD

The following five tips can help keep your money and identity safe when you bank through your cell phone or tablet.

1) Password-protect your cell phone or tablet so that others can't access the banking information on your device when your cell phone or tablet is ever lost or stolen.

2) Never give out personal information like your name, birth day, social security number and driver's license number etc unless you initiate contact with your bank or other financial institution.

3) Do not give private or personal information such as account numbers, social security numbers or other sensitive information through email or text message to your financial institutions which should not request the information through email or text message.  When you receive such a request through email or text message, you should contact your bank by calling the phone number on the back of your credit card or debit card because there is a potential fraud in the works.  Some computer virus may use a person's personal computer to send out emails to request sensitive information to the email addressees.

4) Do not allow your computer to allow you to be “auto-logged in” to your accounts.   By doing so, you leave the door open for intruders.

5) Delete any useless or old texts from your bank to minimize your exposure to fraud.  If you lose your devices, you should report immediately to wireless provider and financial institutions.