Is This Identity Fraud?

Listen to Levo Credit Union®'s fraud specialist, Gabriel J., break down identity fraud and the signs to look out for.

What is Identity Fraud?

Identity fraud is when someone pretends to be you. The fraudster has obtained some of your personal information, such as your name, date of birth, Social Security Number, address, or answers to security questions, which they can use to open new accounts at other financial institutions or to conduct other financial transactions, such as applying for loans.

Fraudsters can get personal information from a variety of different sources. Sometimes information is exposed through data breaches, from as big as your financial institution to small ones like a retailer you ordered from once. They can get your information by calling you and posing as someone or a business you trust. Fraudsters also get information about you from what you share online.

Tips to Prevent Identity Fraud:

• Never share your Social Security Number. You should never share your Social Security Number unprompted or with anyone that you do not trust. Your Social Security Number is used for everything related to your finances and isn't easy to change if it gets into the wrong hands. 

• Keep posts private. Be mindful about what you share online and set your accounts to private. Many people have birthdays, addresses, and other information needed by identity thieves readily available.

• Monitor your bank statements and credit report. Some fraudsters will not use your data for months or years after they get it. You can check your credit report for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com.

• Verify the person or number you are speaking with. Identity thieves can spoof a number to make it look legitimate. If you are not 100% certain that the person you're speaking with is the person they say they are, hang up or stop replying to the email or text. For a financial institution, call the number listed on its website or stop by a branch. 

What to Do If You Think You Are A Victim of Identity Fraud?

If you believe you are a victim of identity fraud or have any feelings that you are being scammed, contact your financial institution. They can help you secure your account and assist with updating account information, such as resetting passwords. Your financial institution can also help you look for any suspicious activity on your account. 

Continue to monitor your account's statements and get a credit report if you haven't already. You may want to freeze your credit with the three credit bureaus, which will prevent your credit from being pulled for any new applications. In addition, place a security statement on your credit report, along with a phone number. This informs anyone pulling your credit that your identity has been stolen and allows them to call you to confirm they are speaking with you regarding the credit pull.

If you’re a Levo member and suspect you’ve recently been affected by fraud, contact our Service Center at 605-334-2471 or toll-free at 1-800-568-5711.

Learn More About Other Common Scams

• Check Washing Scams

• Impersonation Scams

• Investment Scams

• Online Account Takeover

• Online Advertisement Scams

• Romance Scams

• Fraud Prevention Education

Transcript:

(0:00) Next is the big topic of identity fraud. (0:03) So this is a rather large topic, but what it boils down to is someone pretending to be you. (0:10) Now, they usually don't just get all of your information out of the blue. They can get it a (0:15) few different ways. One of the big one is data breaches. That can be really anywhere that you. have your (0:20) information. It, sometimes it is big like your financial institution, but sometimes it's smaller like a single retailer online that (0:28) you used one time.

And the amount of information that they'll get from these breaches will (0:32) differ. Sometimes it's all of your information, but sometimes it's just your name and an email address, or name and (0:37) address. But they can all be combined to try to build a picture of who you are. (0:43) And once they get enough of that personal identifier information, (0:46) then they can use it, to actually (0:48) apply for things that you're not, (0:50) that you don't want. That can look like them applying for accounts at other institutions, (0:54) or even applying for loans (0:56) in your name.

Now, (0:58) a lot of the time these fraudulent applications are easy to pick out because the, the information doesn't all match (1:04) up. They might have your name and your date of birth, but they're not gonna have your Social (1:08) or your address. Or they'll have other pieces that some are right, some are wrong, and it's usually pretty easy (1:13) to suss out by the financial institution, but that's not always the case. Especially that can be an issue if (1:19) they are able to get access to all of your information.

One way they do that is instead of just (1:24) utilizing data breaches, is actually just calling you and pretending to be your financial institution. (1:30) Or another place that you do business with that (1:32) you trust, because they will then ask you, posing as someone that you trust, for all of this information. (1:38) And if you give it out, they can then use it months or years down the line. (1:42) It's especially important whenever it comes to pieces like your date of birth and your Social Security number, (1:47) 'cause those are. kind of always with you. You can't change them like you can change an email address (1:51) or even your physical (1:52) address. So one really important thing whenever it comes to fighting identity (1:57) theft is to not, give out that information, (2:00) especially when it comes to your Social Security number, because that's used for everything with your finances.

But (2:05) other pieces as well, and you can be careful about what you post online, because the more (2:09) and more you post about yourself, the easier it is for fraudsters to use that information to either create fraudulent (2:15) accounts in your name. or to call your financial institutions, and then they have the answer to your security (2:21) questions. So you always just want to be careful about who, where you're posting, and then who you're giving out (2:26) information. It doesn't mean to never post anything at all, or to not answer any phone calls, (2:31) but you should always just be (2:32) careful.

If you're ever not 100% certain that who you're speaking with is the person (2:37) that they're saying, you should just hang up. on them or stop replying to the email or text. (2:41) Then find a way to contact them that you trust. Call a number that's on their website. (2:46) Go stop by a branch if it's your financial institution and (2:49) chat with someone. Because if you were really speaking with your financial institution, you're not gonna hurt any feelings. (2:56) They'd rather you be safe and kind of delay things by a couple of minutes or a couple of (3:00) days than just continue to give out all that information, because it' makes it much easier for fraudsters to then (3:05) steal your identity in the future, (3:07) and it causes much bigger headaches (3:09) down the line.