Heroes in Business - Experian Identity Report, What is Identity Theft with Rod Griffin

Episode Date: December 23, 2022

Experian Identity Report, What is Identity Theft with Rod Griffin, Sr Director of Public Education for Experian. Rod leads Experian's consumer education programs and works with consumer advocates, and financial institutions; helping consumers increase their ability to understand and manage their personal finances and protect themselves from fraud and identity theft.

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. Again, so excited. We've got an incredible segment today on the Experian Identity Report. That's right. We're going to be speaking with the Senior Director of Public Education for Experian, Rod Griffin. Rod leads Experian's national consumer education programs and works with consumer advocates and financial educators

to help consumers really increase their ability to understand and manage their personal finances and also protect themselves from fraud and identity theft. So Rod, welcome to the program. Really, I think our audience will find this discussion very extremely helpful. Why? Because it helps them protect and manage their own identity. And that's really what I want to get into with us today to discuss, because we're all worried these days about identity theft. And we really don't know though a whole lot about it and that's why we've got you on the show today and with your wealth of experience

and expertise talk to us about really what exactly is identity theft david thanks for having me and identity theft unfortunately is something we've probably already all experienced. It's just simply the access and unauthorized access to your identifying information. Someone trying to steal your identity to use it for nefarious purposes, for things that would affect you potentially financially, as well as in other ways that could use your identity, put you in positions I actually have heard and experienced a situation where a person was arrested because they use a false identity, and the person who's stolen identity committed a crime. So it's it's simply the act of stealing your identifying information. Sadly, we've probably already all been

a victim in some way. What does it mean to like the average person? Talk to us about that kind of that impact to the average person. For the average person, it means that your identity, your name, your address, social security number, date of birth have been accessed through a data breach, through theft of a computer, any number of ways that it can happen, stealing information from your trash in many cases. And often the first evidence we see of identity theft is credit fraud. Someone uses your information to apply for a new account that can affect your credit report, that can affect your credit scores, and therefore it can hurt your

ability to qualify for financial tools and resources. And that's often the first thing that we see for an average consumer. And you mentioned some things, but I think this is important is what else could a criminal do if they take somebody's identity? Like what are the various ways that they could do with that information? Yeah. and the Federal Trade Commission puts out a fraud sentinel report every year. And amazingly, the most complained about result of identity theft is government documents fraud.

So they use your stolen identity to apply for social security benefits, for other kinds of government benefits. I was actually a victim of identity theft and tax fraud. Now they had a breach of tax records and I received a tax refund check and was excited for about half a second and realized I hadn't filed my taxes yet.

So they use it for lots of things, credit card fraud, account takeover, opening new credit accounts. So there's a wide range of financial frauds primarily, but they may also create false identities that they can then use to apply for things like driver's licenses or other kinds of licenses or provide to the police when they've been arrested. And have your identity associated with someone who has committed a felony in one instance as i mentioned you know this again very serious stuff and again we have with us and again so honored to have you here today too rod griffin he is the senior director of public education for experian you can go to experian.com that's E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com because you're listening and watching me, David Kogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. So make sure you go

to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. Also, you can catch past episodes at Alliance.com, including many from the Experian Identity Report by going to eliancer.com, because what we're doing is the Experian Identity Report. And Rob, you've got, this is just such valuable information in that. So I should say, well, maybe if this happens, I think I should be saying maybe when it happens, because it just seems to be so much out there of it happening what's the first thing someone should do i mean it seemed like there would be a big panic taking place what it what does someone do yeah and don't panic that's the first thing to not do but one request your credit report you can go to experian.com fraud and get a free report and add what we call an initial security alert to your credit report.

That alert says I might be a victim of identity theft before granting credit. My name, please verify my identity or call me. Experian actually shares that that alert with our competitors. So it will go on all of your credit reports, get a report report see if anything's happening so that's step one step two notify your lenders if you are concerned that you've been a victim if you find evidence of fraud go back to that experience.com fraud website file a police report your local police department will know exactly what to do once you've done that you can add an extended fraud victim alert it says will know exactly what to do once you've done that you can add an extended fraud victim alert it says that i am a victim before granting credit my name call me give two telephone numbers and again we'll share that with the other bureaus that lasts for seven years so you're you have some protection there from credit fraud and then it's a matter of monitoring your credit history

make sure you know what's there make sure that you know what's going on make sure that you're watching for any changes so that you can act quickly and Experian can help you with that. And are there any additional things or products that Experian has that really can help, you know, prevent that identity theft that's taking place? And again, it's almost like as popular, unfortunately, as popular as you said that it is it's bound to happen to someone eventually over time yeah well the reality is that all of our identities have likely been compromised you hear about data breaches as i mentioned you hear about thefts of computers and one of the most popular things to do is go through your trash and steal identifying information from documents you've had so shred everything but at experience because you've been

potentially compromised, there are tools we can provide. One is a monitoring service. So we have a free monitoring service. You can find it at Experian.com or you can download our free app and enroll. And we will provide notice

of any changes that hit your credit report so that you can act immediately on making sure that things are protected, that you can take steps to recover. And if there's any information in your report in terms of accounts that have been affected, we can connect you with representatives who can assist. So monitor that credit history,

know what's there, use tools like Experience Monitoring Service, again, experience.com, or on your mobile app to make sure that you are alerted immediately to any changes so that you can act right away. Well, that's great. And, you know, I think after this interview, I'm going to have to run and sign up for those. Perfect. You should do that. It's the one perk I tell people, the one perk I get at Experian is a membership to our monitoring service. So yeah, I mean, excellent. And do you see it, you know, so people get this notification and they can immediately start taking action on their end? Yes. And so if something new comes into your credit report, you'll be able to get a copy of that report.

Make sure that it's something you're aware of. You know, it might be something you've applied for credit. Things like that could be somebody who's used your identity to apply for a new account. Could be a charge that's made. Something changes in your history. So we'll make sure that you can then respond immediately. And that's really the key. It's about recovering as rapidly as possible, stopping that crime as soon as we can. Excellent. Well, Rod, we thank you for your time again. Rod Griffin, Senior Director of Public Education for Experian. Make sure that you go to Experian.com. That's E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com. This has been David Kogan with the Alliance Hero Show. So make sure again that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com and continue to stay tuned for the Experian Identity Report. Thank you so much again, Rod. Thank you, Dennis.