11 - Protecting Your Identity

Identity theft goes far beyond a single stolen credit card number. As the bank's Security Officer, Daniel Hill joins Shanna Browning to dive into serious threats like the "Grandparent Scam," elder fraud, and the invisible danger of synthetic ID theft. This episode is a crucial guide to safeguarding your personal information. Daniel and Shanna explain what a credit freeze is, why it's the single most powerful tool for preventing new accounts from being opened in your name, and the proactive steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.

Credit Bureau Credit Freeze

• Equifax
• Experian
• TransUnion

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Transcript

Episode 11 | Protecting Your Identity

00:00:00 Shanna Browning: Let's paint a picture that unfortunately, is a little all too common. So you've got an older person who's at home and the phone rings. Person on the other end sounds very professional, very legitimate. And they say they're from a government agency, and that she has missed a payment and a warrant is going to be issued for her arrest.

00:00:21 Daniel Hill: Wow. That's absolutely terrifying.

00:00:24 Shanna Browning: It truly is. And so the caller says, hey, listen, in order to not be arrested, you're going to have to go to the store immediately, get thousands of dollars worth of gift cards, and you're going to need to read those numbers over the phone. So, my goodness, of course she's panicked and she's on her way out the door to do it.

00:00:42 Daniel Hill: And what happened? What happened next.

00:00:44 Shanna Browning: In this story that I'm telling you? She mentioned it to her son, who thankfully, immediately recognized it as a scam. But unfortunately, the scenario is a very powerful reminder that fraud isn't about fake emails, and it's not about fake texts. It's incredibly personable, and it's also the way criminals are constantly coming up with new ways to just really target the most vulnerable people in our societies.

00:01:19 Daniel Hill: Welcome back to this episode of Making Sense of Your Cents. I'm Daniel Hill.

00:01:24 Shanna Browning: And hey, I'm Shanna Browning, and last week we had such a great conversation about spotting phishing scams. If you haven't listened to it, we suggest you go back and listen to it. Because today we're going to take that conversation a little bit of a step further to talk about the broader topic of just protecting your identity.

00:01:45 Daniel Hill: And just like I mentioned last week, as the Bank's Security Officer, I am so extremely passionate about this topic. And today we're going to discuss some of the most serious identity related threats and introduce you, our listeners, to the single most powerful tool that you have to protect yourself. And that is the credit freeze. Shanna, in our last episode, we focused on phishing, which is all about tricking someone into giving up their information. But what happens when criminals get that information without even tricking you? Maybe from a data breach.

00:02:24 Shanna Browning: Which seems to be happening a whole lot more in our world today. And so that's where we kind of move into this more serious form of identity theft. So a criminal with your name, date of birth and social security number can attempt to do a whole lot of damage. They can try to open new credit cards in your name. They can apply for loans in your names and in stories that you and I have heard in this banking world. You can even have a fraudulent tax return and they steal your refund.

00:02:55 Daniel Hill: Yeah, yeah. The story that we told in the opening is a form of what we call direct fraud, but it also touches on a specific category of identity related crime, which is elder fraud or elder abuse. Shanna why are seniors so often a target?

00:03:12 Shanna Browning: Man, this is something I'm passionate about too, because we've got to protect our our elders who have given so much. Right? And they're so trusting. But there's a few reasons. So criminal scammers know that seniors are more likely to have a significant nest egg. You know, they've been saving their whole life. And so they're also very trusting and less likely to be confrontational. It's just that generation. And so these scammers exploit these traits using fear and urgency, which just again infuriates me that somebody would target that elder generation. Right. And so the grandparent scam is another classic example. So a scammer pretends to be a grandchild in trouble, needing money sent immediately to them.

00:03:59 Daniel Hill: There's that. There's that immediate sense of urgency. There's also a newer, more invisible threat that we in the bank are seeing a lot more of, and we call it synthetic identity theft. Explain a little bit about what what that is.

00:04:16 Shanna Browning: So it's it's a new one and it's, it's a little bit more sophisticated and it's a disturbing form of fraud. And so this is where a criminal takes a real valid Social Security number, and one usually belonging to a child and who has no credit history. Right. And so it combines it with a completely fake name and date of birth. So think of your social and my name and date of birth combined. Right. And so then they use this quote synthetic identity to apply for credit.

00:04:48 Daniel Hill: Why why would they why would they do that. What's their what's their goal?

00:04:53 Shanna Browning: Well, it's a long term game. And so they might get a small credit card, make payments for a year. And they build up this really good history, this good credit history for this fake person. And then use that good credit that they've been building to apply for way larger loans and then disappear completely. Just gone. Because remember your Social security my name and date of birth. So this person does not exist. So it's much harder to detect than traditional identity theft because there's, like you said, no real person named John Smith with that Social Security number to report the fraud about.

00:05:30 Daniel Hill: Wow.

00:05:31 Shanna Browning: Right. So it's just they're so serious. The threats are very, very serious. So when we talk about phishing, elder fraud, synthetic identity theft, it's so very overwhelming.

00:05:43 Daniel Hill: Very.

00:05:43 Shanna Browning: And Daniel, you know this as the Security Officer for our bank, First Century, what is the single most powerful, proactive step that a person can take to protect themselves from these new fraudulent accounts being opened in their name.

00:05:57 Daniel Hill: Well, Shanna, the answer to that is is relatively simple. It's free and incredibly effective, and it's called a security freeze, or more often known as a credit freeze.

00:06:10 Shanna Browning: Well, and it's again free. So it's something that that needs to be done. So tell me, tell me what a credit freeze is and tell me how it works.

00:06:17 Daniel Hill: So a credit freeze is a tool that restricts access to your credit report. When you place a freeze on your credit file, no one can access it to open a new line of credit. Think about when you apply for a car loan or credit card. The very first thing that lender does is pull your credit report.

00:06:34 Shanna Browning: That's right.

00:06:34 Daniel Hill: If your credit is frozen, the lenders request is denied. They can't see your report, and therefore they cannot and will not approve the application.

00:06:43 Shanna Browning: Which is a great protection for consumers, right. For the buyer. So even if a scammer has your Social Security number and all your personal information, you're telling me if that credit is frozen, they are simply just stopped in their tracks when they try to open a new account?

00:06:59 Daniel Hill: Exactly. Think about it like putting a digital padlock on your credit file. And only you have the key to unlock it.

00:07:08 Shanna Browning: I love that, I love that thought process. So if I'm applying for a loan, how do I unfreeze my credit?

00:07:16 Daniel Hill: Well, there's a process. Um.

00:07:18 Shanna Browning: Oh, sorry. So I'm sorry I said to unfreeze. I didn't mean unfreeze. Tell me how to freeze that credit. Sorry. No. Tell me how to freeze it.

00:07:25 Daniel Hill: We'll start with the process.

00:07:27 Shanna Browning: Of.

00:07:27 Daniel Hill: Freezing each of the three major credit bureaus individually. Freeze your credit. So that's Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

00:07:39 Shanna Browning: So those are the big three. Those are the ones that banks use. Okay.

00:07:43 Daniel Hill: Yes you can do all of this online at each of their websites, and by law, it's completely free to both freeze and to your point. Shanna. Unfreeze your credit. The process usually takes less than five minutes per bureau. You'll create an account, verify your identity, which is very important, and set your freeze.

00:08:04 Shanna Browning: Man, I like that thought. So what happens when you, so you're the consumer again, actually need to apply for credit.

00:08:11 Daniel Hill: So that's where we get to the unfreeze part. Let's say you're going to a car dealership on Saturday to apply for a loan. On Friday you can log in to the credit bureau websites. Remember all three Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and request a temporary thaw of your credit file.

00:08:29 Shanna Browning: There you.

00:08:29 Daniel Hill: Go. And you can choose a specific period of days that you can unthaw it, and then after that it will automatically refreeze. Or you can unfreeze it and then manually refreeze it after you're done. You're in complete control of the situation - that's what I like about this most. It gives you the control of who can apply for credit.

00:08:52 Shanna Browning: So if in this like you and I are talking, so if I unfreeze it on Friday, I buy a car on Saturday. On that Friday I can set it to Monday to refreeze it again. Absolutely. Like that. Yeah, I like that. So there's no really I have to go back and remember to do it.

00:09:09 Daniel Hill: No, it does it automatically.

00:09:10 Shanna Browning: It doesn't automatically.

00:09:11 Daniel Hill: It goes back to our automation.

00:09:13 Shanna Browning: Yep. That we talk about. That's right. All right. So sometimes you hear another term used in commercials so to speak. So credit lock many services offer to lock your credit for a monthly fee. So how is a credit lock different from let's say, that free credit freeze we're talking about?

00:09:30 Daniel Hill: That is an excellent question. And the marketing can be very confusing. A credit freeze is a right granted to you by federal law. It has a strong legal standing. And as we said, it's free. A credit lock is a product offered by the credit bureaus themselves, often as part of a paid credit monitoring service.

00:09:53 Shanna Browning: Okay, so credit freeze is federal law. Credit lock is paid to the credit bureaus.

00:09:59 Daniel Hill: Exactly.

00:09:59 Shanna Browning: So do they. Do they do the same thing?

00:10:02 Daniel Hill: Functionally, they're very similar. Both a lock and a freeze. Restrict access to your credit report. 

00:10:04 Shanna Browning: Okay. 

00:10:05 Daniel Hill: The main difference is the convenience and the legal framework. A credit lock can be often turned on and off instantly through an app, like locking your debit card. Yep.

00:10:20 Shanna Browning: Yep.

00:10:21 Daniel Hill: Which most people find to be very convenient. A credit freeze might take a few minutes longer to process online.

00:10:29 Shanna Browning: But they're the same. Basically.

00:10:31 Daniel Hill: Essentially, the end result of restricting access is the same. However, because a credit freeze is legally mandated, it offers you stronger legal protections if something were to go wrong. For the vast majority of people a free credit freeze offers the highest level of protection without any monthly cost, while a paid credit monitoring service can be useful for alerts, you do not need to pay a monthly fee simply to lock your credit. The free credit freeze is your most powerful tool.

00:11:00 Shanna Browning: So it sounds like we don't want our consumers to have to pay for it if they don't have to. And so they have this option of the credit freeze, which is free. 

00:11:01 Daniel Hill: Exactly, exactly. 

00:11:02 Shanna Browning: I got you.

00:11:07 Daniel Hill: It takes a little more effort on on the front end of it. It's not as instantaneous as what a credit lock might be, but who really needs the instantaneous if you can do the same thing for free?

00:11:21 Shanna Browning: That's right. And we want to protect our consumers and our customers. So that's definitely great information to have. So Daniel great great great great great information. So tell us as we get into the next steps - actionable tips.

00:11:34 Daniel Hill: Yes, absolutely. Our actionable tip for this week.

00:11:41 Shanna Browning: All right. So it's going to perform a Digital Footprint Checkup. That's your action item. We're going to take two steps to make your identity harder to steal.

00:11:53 Daniel Hill: Absolutely. First building on what we discussed we want you to freeze your credit. This week, take fifteen minutes and go to the websites for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and place a freeze on your credit file. We'll put the links to all three in our show notes and on our social media. This is the single most powerful preventative step you can take.

00:12:15 Shanna Browning: I love that idea. Second, we want you to do a quick review of your social media privacy settings. Just do this. Just please go do this because criminals will piece together information about what you share publicly. Go into your Facebook, Instagram or any other social media accounts that you use. Are your post public? Is your birth date, your phone number, or your hometown visible to every one?

00:12:46 Daniel Hill: Oh, that's so good. And and you know those you know, those polls that we used to see go around where they would say, what's your first vehicle? What's what street did you grow up on? What's your favorite color? Those are all designed to get your personal information.

00:12:59 Shanna Browning: For probably your security questions that you've answered.

00:13:02 Daniel Hill: Exactly. While you're in your social media, switch your posts to be visible to friends only.

00:13:09 Shanna Browning: Mine are locked down.

00:13:12 Daniel Hill: Mine too. Yeah. Remove any sensitive personal information from your public profile. This simple act of digital housekeeping makes it much, much harder for a stranger to gather information they would need to impersonate you.

00:13:27 Shanna Browning: Man, that's such great information. So, a credit freeze and social media checkup. These are two powerful steps that take little bits of time to take back control of your personal information. Because I can promise you, it's going to be better for you to take fifteen to thirty minutes on the very front end than it is for you to take hours to have to undo the damage that can be done.

00:13:54 Daniel Hill: It is a foundational part of digital security. Next week, our CFO, Baron Kennedy, will be joining us to talk about planning for major life events. You will not want to miss next week's episode.

00:14:08 Shanna Browning: So as always, please subscribe to Making Sense of Your Cents wherever you listen and we hope you have a wonderful and safe week.

00:14:17 Daniel Hill: And don't forget, send us those questions at podcast@fcbtn.com.