For the first time in US history, stolen social security numbers have come to outnumber stolen credit card account numbers. These stolen SSNs are largely being used to commit “synthetic identity fraud,” which uses a combo of real and made up information and is much harder to detect than traditional ID theft.
Unlike cards and account numbers, personal identifying information like social security numbers cannot be replaced, so we must do everything in our power to protect our consumers from having this information from stolen.
A law was recently passed making it free for consumers to freeze and unfreeze their credit files.[1] Take this opportunity to share the below information with your consumers about the benefits of credit freezes, so you can better protect your institution and consumers from identity theft of any kind:
Credit Freeze Education for Consumers
Do you want to reduce your risk of identity fraud?
Freezing your credit files is relatively quick and easy – and now it’s free! This process can prevent unwanted access to your personal and financial information housed by the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
Information housed within these credit files includes your full name, social security number, current & previous addresses, driver’s license number, and even credit card numbers - i.e., information you want to protect from getting into the wrong hands.
Why should you freeze your credit files?
- 2017 and 2018 have seen record-breaking impact from data breaches, including the Facebook breach that resulted in information being stolen from as many as 30 million accounts.[2]
- Equifax’s 2017 data breach exposed the private information of 147.9 million Americans, nearly 50% of the U.S. population.[3]
- The series of data breaches occurring between 2013-2016 Yahoo’s 2013 breach resulted in stolen information from as many as 3 billion accounts.[4]
- Data breaches and theft of private information are not going to stop, so you must do everything you can to make it harder for criminals to use your information to commit fraud!
What are the main benefits of freezing your credit files?
- Prevents identity thieves from opening up new loan or credit accounts under your name
- Prevents credit bureaus from selling your contact information to other organizations
- Keeps you and only you in control of who accesses and sees your private information
How do you freeze and unfreeze your credit files?
- Go to all three credit bureaus’ websites to fill out the credit freeze forms:
- Equifax: www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/
- Experian: www.experian.com/freeze
- TransUnion: www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
- Unfreeze your accounts to authorize new credit inquiries or loan requests – i.e. opening a new credit card or getting approved for a mortgage or car loan.
- Re-freeze the credit files upon completion of the loan or credit approval process.
Additional ID Theft Prevention Measures
There is no fail-proof way to stop identity theft, however there are certainly steps our industry can take to more successfully detect and prevent these crimes.
Here are additional practices you should adopt to reduce fraud exposures resulting from identity theft or synthetic identity theft:
- Offer an identity theft protection solution to your accountholders, namely one that includes “deeper” services, like dark web monitoring.
- Make staff and accountholders aware of the new law allowing individuals to freeze and unfreeze their credit profiles for free at all of the major credit bureaus.[1]
- Communicate the importance of freezing the accounts of children: Synthetic identity thieves primarily target children’s SSNs because they typically remain unchecked for up to 18 years and generally have no public information associated with their SSN.
- Use email, websites, lobby posters, flyers, and educational seminars to educate consumers and staff about identity theft warning signs and prevention measures.
- Review and update loan procedures to identify cybercriminals purporting to be someone they are not by using a stolen identity or a synthetic identity they created.: Procedures should include thorough review of credit reports, verification of information obtained from consumers, and authentication measures by loan and audit staff.
- Leverage software solutions that analyze dynamic account information in real-time, to help identify and prevent loan fraud attempts without disrupting legitimate accountholders: Look for tools that record and flag discrepancies in devices, locations, or behaviors used to access an account.
Contact our experts to learn more techniques for better managing these risks.
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[1] “Free Credit Freezes Are Here.” Consumer Information, 21 Sept. 2018, www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/free-credit-freezes-are-here.
[2] “An Update on the Security Issue.” Facebook Newsroom, 12 Oct. 2018, newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/10/update-on-security-issue/.
[3] “Equifax Releases Updated Information on 2017 Cybersecurity Incident.” Equifax, 2017 Cybersecurity Incident & Important Consumer Information, 1 Mar. 2018, https://investor.equifax.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/213/equifax-releases-updated-information-on-2017-cybersecurity.
[4] Stempel, Jonathan. “Data Breach Victims Can Sue Yahoo in the United States: Judge.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 12 Mar. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-verizon-yahoo-breach/data-breach-victims-can-sue-yahoo-in-the-united-states-judge-idUSKCN1GO1TL.