Do you know that identity thieves don’t need to steal your entire identity to use your information? 

Sometimes a single piece of information is all they need to build a whole new identity in a practice known as synthetic identity fraud. 

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Transcript:

Welcome to Money Tip Tuesday from the Making Money Personal podcast.  

Experian.com mentions that synthetic identity fraud is one of the fastest growing types of financial crimes out there. 

This type of identity fraud is when someone steals an identifying piece of information, typically, a social security number, and they use it with other information they’ve made up to create an entirely new identity.  

There are many ways a thief can get social security numbers, with one of the most popular places being the dark web. Once they get it, they create a new identity and use it to establish credit, apply for government programs, open bank accounts and for other criminal ways. Oftentimes they use the single number to create many different identities.  

If you want to keep your identity safeguarded, you need to protect as much of your information as possible. Here are a few things you can do to keep your information out of thieves’ hands.  

The first is to monitor your credit by checking it regularly. Pay attention to statements, reports and notifications related to your identity.  

Another thing to do is request a credit freeze or lock. You can contact each credit bureau to freeze or lock your credit so no one can gain access to your report. It blocks authorized access as well as unauthorized access so make sure you unfreeze or unlock it first before you choose to apply for anything that requires a credit check.  

You can also freeze your kids’ credit. Kids are often victims of identity fraud. Thieves can steal their social security numbers and personal information. You can freeze your kids’ reports by making a request to each of the credit bureaus. They’ll create a report and then freeze it to keep anyone from stealing their SSNs and other information. 

Make sure you are careful where you share information. Social media can be a gold mine for fraudsters who are looking for identifying information. Be careful when sharing personal information like birthdays or addresses on social sites.  Also, if you’re providing information to a new company or business and it asks you for your or your child’s SSN, you can push back and ask them if it’s necessary, and if you could use another form of identification instead. 

Keep an eye on your mail and other documentation. If you get notices or pre-approved credit offers in your child's name, that could be a sign of identity theft. Also, make sure you shred any mail, paper statements and pre-approved credit offers you don’t need. Dumpster diving is still a thing and people can still get personal information from digging through trash.  

Get id protection in case something happens. Monitoring and notifications are the first line of defense when it comes to safeguarding your identity. But sometimes things can still happen. Get set up with an identity theft protection service so if you ever become the victim of identity fraud, you’ll have an advocate who can help you manage it and recover.  

If you don’t have identity protection, Triangle Credit Union offers a Better Checking account with ID Protect. This service provides credit monitoring, fraud resolution, and monthly credit reports to help you keep an eye on your identity. If you’re looking for a first step, that’s a good place to start.  

If there are any other tips or topics you would like us to cover, let us know at tcupodcas