Identity Theft Archives - Sarminiatures

The weather is turning, fall is in the air, and Halloween is around the cornerâwhich means itâs National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. How can you ensure October is full of treats while not falling for any scammers’ tricks? By arming yourself with these identity protection tips.

Every American should understand the basics of identity theft protection. According to the most recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 10% of people 16 and older have been the victim of identity theft. That’s why we’re encouraging people to educate themselves on identity protection tips this autumn. After all, there’s nothing quite as scary as identity fraud!

Here are some identity theft tricks to watch out for and identity security treats to take advantage of.

Trick: Using Your Data to Open New Accounts

According to the FTC, credit card fraudâincluding opening new credit card accountsâwas the most commonly reported form of identity theft in 2019. Thieves can rack up hundreds of dollars’ worth of bills before you know it happened.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to your cybersecurity to avoid your data being used to open new accounts in your name:

Never use the same password across multiple accounts. Switch your passwords up.
Never use a password that’s easy to guess. This includes passwords that include your birthday, first or last name, or address.
Use passwords that are random combinations of numbers, letters, and symbols.
Enable two-factor authentication whenever it’s offered.
Don’t share or write down your passwords.
Never click on unknown email links or pop-ups on websites.
Make sure websites are secure before entering your payment information.
Never connect to public Wi-Fi that isn’t secure.
Never walk away from your laptop in public places.
Enable firewall protection.
Monitor your accounts and credit reports for unusual activity.

Treat: Check Your Credit Reports

Identity theft protection starts by being proactive and regularly monitoring your information for suspicious activity. That includes monitoring your credit report.

Did you know that you’re entitled to one free copy of your credit report each year from all three credit reporting agencies? In honor of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, make October the month that you request your reports and go over them with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure you recognize all the open accounts under your name.

[Note: Through April 2021, you can review your credit reports weekly.]

An added bonus of checking your reports early in the month is that you can give your credit a good once-over before the upcoming holiday shopping season. Unexplained dips in your credit score could be a sign that something is wrong.

When you request your free credit report from the credit bureaus, your report does not come with your credit scoreâyou have to request that separately. Sign up for ExtraCredit to get 28 of your FICOÂ® scores and your credit reports from all three credit bureaus. Youâll also get account monitoring and $1 million identity theft insurance.

Protect Your Identity with ExtraCredit

Trick: Charity Fraud

October also happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and everywhere you look, pink is on display. With so much national attention on breast cancer, it’s easy to fall for scams that claim to be legitimate charities.

Consumers should also be on the lookout for phony COVID-19 related scams this fall and winter. For example, watch out for fake charities that pretend to provide COVID relief to groups or families but are simply stealing money.

Even worse than handing over money to these heartless fraudsters is that you may have handed over your credit card numbers or other personally identifiable information in the process.

Treat: Know Your Worthy Causes

Before donating to a charitable cause, do your homework. You can use websites such as Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance to check a charity’s reputation. Additionally, consider contacting your state’s charity regulator to confirm the organization is registered to raise money in your state.

After you’ve verified the status of the charity, consider making donations directly through the national organization. Avoid giving money or financial information directly to someone that reaches out to you through email, phone calls, or door-to-door interactions.

It might be a bit of extra work, but at the end of the day, you can feel good knowing your money is going to support a real cause. If you want to support October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, consider donating directly on the national website. An added bonus is that you’ll receive a receipt you can use for tax deduction purposes.

Trick: Tax Refund Fraud

Every year, the Internal Revenue Service announces its “dirty dozen” scams. These are the tax fraud scams the IRS determines to be the most common for the year. The 2020 list includes refund theft. A tax thief gains access to your information, files a fraudulent return in your name before you do, and has the funds paid out them. The only way you find out about it is that your legitimate tax returnâthe one you submitâis rejected for having already been filed.

Another way individuals fall victim to tax refund fraud is by using an unscrupulous return vendor. Dishonest vendors and ghost preparers steal personal information to file a tax refund and pocket the money or use that information for other types of identity fraud.

Itâs unclear what exactly the next round of stimulus legislation will include, but if another stimulus check is included, watch out for attempts to steal your COVID stimulus checks. Remember that the IRS never contacts you via email, social media, or text.

Treat: File Early

It may feel like you just finished filing your 2019 taxes, but itâs never too early to start preparing for next year. While filing your taxes might be the last thing you want to think about this month, it’s crucial to stay on top of your tax return documents so you’re ready to file as early as possible. This is especially true for individuals who have reason to believe that their personal data has already been breached.

Always ensure you work with a reputable tax return vendor. You can look at the vendor’s online reviews before considering them as an option for tax return help.

Additionally, individuals that are paid to assist with or prepare federal tax returns must have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). Paid preparers must sign and include their PTIN on returns. Always ask for this number before you hire an individual and hand over your personal information.

If you file early, you can beat out someone filing before you and receiving your return first. The earliest you can file is January.

Trick: Social Media Scams

Our social media accounts allow us to stay connected with friends and family. Unfortunately, scammers understand this and have started using social media to commit identity fraud.

There are many variations of social media phishing scams, but the basics are generally that a scammer creates an account to gain your trust and gather personal information from you. For example, many people have their name, birthday, and workplace information on their Facebook or other social media account. Those three things alone could be enough for someone to gain everything else they need to create a credit card application under your name or access your existing accounts.

Treat: Be More Exclusive and Private

Consider taking a quiet October morning to comb through your social media accounts. Start with your followers. Consider deleting everyone you don’t know personally.

If a follower base is important to you, consider another approach. Go through each social profile and scrub any personal details. Change the spelling of your last name slightly, delete your birthday, and remove other personal information, such as place of work. Ultimately, this can reduce the risk of being an easy target for identity fraud.

These core identity protection tips should help you stay safer online. With COVID-19 causing people to feel scared, individuals are more vulnerable to being tricked. Remember that identity fraud happens to millions of people every year, and it’s important to remain vigilant.

Stay Vigilant This Fall

Identity theft can have long-lasting consequences. If you’re recovering from identity fraud or simply unhappy with your credit score, consider signing up for ExtraCredit. ExtraCredit is a five-in-one credit product that provides tools to helps you build, guard, track, reward, and restore your credit.

The post Don’t Get Tricked: Identity Protection Tips You Need appeared first on Credit.com.

Source: credit.com

Payments started with the barter system a long time ago. People exchanged goods or services for other goods or services. Eventually legal tender took over and money, in many formsâfrom tea bricks to cow to seashellsâbecome the payment method of choice. Then virtual money came on the scene, including credit cards. And todayâs credit cards, have chips. Chips, Not to be confused with cow chips from cattle as money are known as EVM or Europay, MasterCard and Visa. EVM is a newer technology intended to protect users and lower the cost of fraud. But, just how safe are credit cards with chips?

The History of Credit Cards

In 1958, Bank of America successfully launched its first credit card, which later became known as the first successful modern credit card. These credit cards were supposed to be a replacement for the cash people carrier around.

Since 1958, credit cards have evolved. And one of the most recent evolutions happened in the U.S. about a year with the addition of a chip or EMV technology on credit cards. Chips replace the previous magnetic strips used on card. A magnetic strip was a black band on the top back of a credit card that relayed information about the payee, such as account number and enabled a merchant to process the payment. With the demise of mag-stripes, that information is passed through the chip.

Itâs believed that cards with chips provide a layer of security that wasnât provided by mag-stripe cards. But, just how secure are these cards and are they right for you?

Magnetic Stripe Technology

The technology of mag-stripe cards dates back 50 years and is similar to the technology used for cassette tapes. Data is loaded onto the mag stripe by the issuer. The stripe is stable and rarely degrades with time.

Whenever you make a payment with a mag-stripe card, the information loaded in the stripe is read over and over again. The down-side is that consistent data is easily stolen by thieves and hackers, because the magnetic field decodes the information and your bank information is then sent.

Thieves can use card skimmers at ATMs and other locations where you pay with your debit and credit card to steal your information. Stopping a thief from using your card information requires that you cancel your old card and get a new one loaded with new account information. But with the same technology, the new card is just as vulnerable as the old one.

EMV Chip Technology: Beneath the Hype

With the newer EMV credit card and debit card chips, the information on the card isnât static. Itâs always changing. Itâs consistently decrypted, changed, and re-encrypted, which makes it harder for thieves to steal it. The chip has a mini microprocessor within it that includes a one-time code for every transaction. With a unique code for each transaction, a hacker canât use the information, because that information was specific to a past transaction.

So, when shopping online or making payment through a physical payment point, the chip on your card sends a signal to the merchant and decrypts the language. Your payment information is then obtained using EMV authentication methods.

The chip also helps ensure that the transaction and the cardholder are verifiable. With mag-stripe cards, this is done by inputting your PIN and your cardâs CVV2 or security code.

In essence, your new card contains the same information your old mag-stripe card had, but the chip offers better security as it constantly generates new encrypted information, providing an extra layer of protection that mag-stripe technology couldnât offer.

So the answer to âhow safe are credit cards with chips,â is that they are safer than older card technologies.

Regardless of the added security with EMV chips, identity thieves will always attempt to steal your information in a bid to gain access to your money. So, itâs still important to take steps to protect your finances, pay for goods safely and avoid getting robbed.

Here Are a Few Ways to Keep Your Chip Credit Card Safe

1. Protect your numbers

Never tell your credit card number or PIN to anyone. With any of these numbers, itâs easier for a theif to gain access to your account and your money. If possible, sign for transactions instead of using your PIN. This way if a false transaction happens, the blame rests on either the bank or the merchant. And never send your account number or PIN in an email, text message or social media.

2. Keep track of your bank statements

Banks are diligent in stopping fraud and preventing fraudulent activity before it happens. Several banks notify customers of an attempted unauthorized use of their debit card at suspicious locations, while other banks flag suspicious transfers and call customers immediately.

Thanks to the extra security made possible with EMV technology cards, itâs not as easy for thieves to steal information. However, itâs still important to review your bank statements regularly in order to spot suspicious transactions. If you find any of these, report the discrepancies to your bank immediately.

3. Choose alternative payment methods

A great way to ensure the safety of your information is to give preference to retailers and vendors using mobile payment technology. Doing this significantly reduces the risk of thieves stealing your information. You can also add your debit and credit cards to your phone, use mobile-friendly payment terminals to ensure your shopping experience is secure. You might also consider investing in identity theft protection.

4. Keep an eye on your credit score

Watching your credit scoreânot obsessivelyâbut judiciously, can help alert you to changes in your credit, which can indicate that your account information or identity has been compromised or that youâve had fraudulent charges made. On Credit.com, you can sign up for free access to your Experian credit score. On Credit.com, your score is updated every two weeks. And you get access to a free credit report card so you can see what steps you want to consider to keep your credit good or maybe make it better.

The post How Safe Are Credit Cards with Chips? appeared first on Credit.com.