Heroes in Business - Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Behind the Scenes How Your Identity is Protected

Episode Date: February 5, 2023

Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Behind the Scenes How Your Identity is Protected. Rod leads the National Consumer Education Programs for Experian. He works with consumer advocates and financial educators to help consumers increase their ability to understand and manage their personal finances to protect themselves from fraud and identity theft, interviewed by David Cogan, host of the Heroes Show and founder of Eliances entrepreneur community. www.experian.com.

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 used a false identity and the person who stole their identity committed a crime. So 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 though? 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

a 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 of that 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 a 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. 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. 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. Yeah, this again, very serious stuff. And again, we have with us and again, so honored to have you here today to 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, 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 does someone do?

Yeah. And don't panic. That's the first thing to not do. But one, request your credit report. 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 see if anything's happening so that's step one step to notify your

lenders if you are concerned that you've been a victim if you find evidence of fraud go back to that experience on slash 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 that i am a victim before granting credit my name call me you have 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 experience can help you with that and are there any additional

things or products uh 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 Experian, documents you've had. So shred everything. But at Experian, because you've been potentially compromised, there are tools we can provide.

One is a monitoring service. 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 Experian's monitoring service, again, experian.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. 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.