Identity theft can happen at any time of the year, but the holiday shopping season is the prime time for these types of threats. After December, threats usually slow down a bit until tax season when they ramp back up again.
Since the pandemic, there has been an acceleration toward digital communications, whether it is for marketing or customer service via chat, for instance. This means there are more of occurrence of companies asking customers to interact online, like through forums or other mediums. Because of that transition, there has been much more opportunity for identity thieves to infiltrate certain databases to try and get access to that information.
Many of the tactics being deployed by fraudsters mimic specific letters or digital forms of communication to replicate financial institutions or companies to make it seem as real as possible. They use verbiage that a company would utilize to make it seem legitimate. Larger corporations with multiple call centers are targeted because if they have numbers that are outdated, hackers can find a way to bypass an interactive voice response (IVR) system and masquerade as being call center employees or bank employees.
Falling for one of these schemes can make consumers feel embarrassed and vulnerable but it is important to understand that these scams have become extremely complex and are designed to make you believe you are talking to the company they claim to be from.
There are several ways that people become aware of identity theft. One way is through their financial institution either with direct communications with their member or through the financial institution’s social media accounts. Other times, notices can come from news reports where a large-scale corporation has had a data breach where their clientele data has been exposed.
If, or when, these situations occur, it is comforting to have someone to fall back on.
Triangle Credit Union works with IDProtect® to safeguard our members with our Better Checking Account.
IDProtect® has a $10,000 expense reimbursement but it is not limited to that. For example, if there is an identity theft situation that occurs over that dollar amount, IDProtect® can assist with that as well. Their primary focus is to absolve the victim of identity theft and any kind of fraudulent activity, whatever the case.
IDProtect® assigns a resolution specialist to work with the victim as well as creditors and credit reporting agencies, to help them navigate through the process of reporting identity theft, help them reclaim their identity, and make sure that the Credit Bureaus remove fraudulent activity from their credit file. The typical turnaround for a resolution case is about 30 to 90 days (about 3 months).
Our member will have access to their credit file and credit report online, so you can check it whenever you would like. If you detect something on there that seems suspicious, you can reach out to your trusted Triangle Credit Union member services representative or contact IDProtect® directly. From there, IDProtect® will walk you through the results of their scan and answer any questions.
That is just the surface level of what our Better Checking with IDProtect® has to offer for just $4.99 per month. Visit our website for more IDProtect features and to upgrade today.
Identity Protection is something everybody should take seriously because there are a lot of threats out there and it can be difficult to stay on top of the tactics all the time.
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