Heroes in Business - Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Senior Director of Public Education for Experian in NA

Episode Date: January 16, 2023

Experian Identity Report with Rod Griffin, Senior Director of Public Education for Experian in North America. You’re a victim of identity theft, so what do you do now? Learn the secrets to protect and manage your identity with experts from Experian.  

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. And it's time for the Experian Identity Report. And today we welcome back Rod Griffin to the program. And Rod is the Senior Director of Public Education for Experian. You can reach him by going to Experian.com. That's E-X-P-E-R-I-A-N.com. And I'm always excited to speak with you, Rod, because again, you lead the Experian's National Consumer Education Program. You work with consumer advocates, financial educators to help consumers increase their ability to really understand and manage their personal finances and protect themselves from fraud and identity theft. And so, Rod, welcome back to the program. Thanks, David. Glad to be back.

So let's really get down right to it. You're a victim of identity theft. So what do you do now? Well, and the reality is we've almost all been victims. And as you said, we may not know it yet. Identity theft is the stealing of your identity. We don't find out about it until they use it. And often that's something we find when you get your credit report and you see a new account you

don't recognize. If you're enrolling in a monitoring service, you might from experience see an alert. And that's unfortunately when we find out about it. What you should do, make sure you're monitoring that credit report. When you get a credit alert or you find something notify experian go to experian.com fraud add an initial security alert last for a year it says i might be a victim please verify my identity we'll give you a free report actually several free reports so that you can then begin to take steps to recover and protect your identity, make sure it's not being used in ways that it shouldn't be. I can tell you mine has been compromised. I've been a victim. I think almost all of us have at some point. So we're all in it together. Well, I think this next

question I'm going to ask you is interesting because you talked about what you should do. What about though what you should not do yeah first thing uh you should not do is don't panic uh you know that because you know immediately you're going to be frustrated frightened what does it mean don't panic get that credit report that will be the first step if you get a data breach which unfortunately so many of us have because data breaches are happening far too often and affect millions of people if you get a breach don't ignore it that's one of the things you definitely should not do make sure you respond to it your lender the business that's affected is going to give you instructions on what you should do to protect your identity in response

to that breach make sure you respond to it. It's there for a reason. Make sure, again, you're reviewing that credit history and so that you know exactly what's there. But don't panic. Respond to the breach notices. Don't ignore signs of potential fraud. Talk to people who have gotten notices from their lenders about account changes they don't recognize.

Talk to people who have gotten collection notices from collection agencies with accounts they don't have, and they just kind of throw them in the trash. Don't ignore that information. Make sure you're responding right away because making sure that you're addressing the issue immediately is what's going to protect you personally and financially. And those letters that we get, how do we also know that it's actually that person who's sending that letter and not, again, somebody just throwing out data out there to collect even more information?

Yeah, well, and you touch on a great point. Another thing you should not do is respond to emails you get saying they would like you to contact them and share your identifying information or your account numbers. And they'll say that you're with your bank bank your bank has your account numbers and doesn't need your password so it's not them so don't respond to those those emails instead if you get a letter

you get an email you get a phone call tell them if it's a phone call i'm going to check with my lender and hang up if it's an email or a letter, go to your bank, get your billing statement, look at the back of your credit card. It will have a telephone number on it usually that says call to assist. Talk to the bank and ask them, are you the one reaching out to me? Don't respond to that individual because they're the ones looking for your information. So the other thing too is, Rod, I think is that some people also think, well, you know, I call the police. I'm done after that point, right? I filed the report. The police are there to help and the rest is done. But that's not quite correct. True. You know, talking to the police, if you know your victim is step one,

get a financial fraud report. They will know how to do that. I had that happen to me in my little town in Texas and was ready to tell them exactly what they needed to do that i had that happen to me in my little town in texas and was ready to tell them exactly what they needed to do and went and told the officer i think i'm a victim and he said just a second let me get the report so i know exactly what to do and didn't get to share any of my knowledge he already had it so if they do here they will where you are too but once you've uh verified that and added a report, you should add an extended fraud victim alert to your credit histories. Experian.com slash fraud can do that. There's no cost.

We notify the other credit reporting companies, so it's added to theirs as well. And then monitor that report. Make sure that you are getting the information often. You can enroll in a free monitoring service with Experian. We actually monitor the dark web as well, which is where the bad stuff happens. It's where most of us don't know how to get to and probably shouldn't because that's where the identity thieves are trading your information. And so being alerted to the fact that your information is out there on the dark web

lets you take action as well. Once again, Rob, with everything that's going on with all this, what other things can we do? Should we be, for example, you know, making separate emails for each site, separate passwords for each thing? Are there any other things, especially with you, when you mentioned about it going to the dark web? You should always be active in controlling your information. And just because someone asks for it doesn't necessarily mean you need to give it to them. Don't carry documents that you don't need, things like social security cards and those sorts of things with you. Holidays are coming around every year and too often people at that time of year will put things

in their car and leave them identity thieves aren't stealing your radio anymore they will search parking lots for id information person's wallets sitting where they can see it they'll break your windows and steal that because that's far more valuable than a radio today one of the things you can definitely do is invest in a shredder they're not expensive shred everything that goes into your that comes through your mailbox or that comes out of your printer. Anything that has identifying information on it, put it through a shredder. I actually talked to a law enforcement officer not too long ago. And one of the side effects apparently of methamphetamine addiction is these really intense times of focus.

And they were stealing shredded documents out of trash and taping them together to steal identities. So remarkable what links people go to. So get a crosscut shredder. That helps as well. And again, make sure that you're not sharing information where it doesn't need to be shared. Store wants a retailer.

And the person in front of me was applying and the high school kid asked for their social security card and they gave it to them. And I went, don't know why you need to do that. Should have said, that's not something you'll need to open an account. So be aware of where you're sharing information. If you're at the gas station, look at that pump, make sure it's not using a reader. There's not something attached to the card slot because there's steal information all of the time if you're out to dinner make sure that you see where that credit card goes because when that server takes it there have been instances where they have battery operated readers in their pockets and they'll swipe that card

steal your identifying information so you need to be constantly vigilant, constantly aware. If you're shredding information, you go to a community event or to a group program where you take bags of information documents to be shredded. Watch them. Make sure it goes into their shredder before you leave because you don't want that bag of information to suddenly get shifted aside and into the back of somebody's car. And they're off to the races with your identity.

You know, if you're online, as most of us are, make sure you use good passwords. Make sure that you log out. Make sure that you're working with businesses that are legitimate and not posing as fraud. They spoof websites all the time. It looks exactly like your bank or the retailer. Make sure you're checking and are working with sites that are legitimate. They spoof websites all the time. It looks exactly like your bank or the retailer. Make sure you're checking and are working with sites that are legitimate.

So many things we need to be aware of. It's harder and harder all the time. What I recommend if you believe you're a victim was one, you start with an initial security alert. The last three years says I might be a victim, goes on your credit report, then advance to the extended fraud victim alert that lasts for seven years, says I am am a victim for most people that sufficient.

The next step is a credit freeze. A credit freeze limits access to your credit report. But it's important to understand what it does and doesn't do. So if someone were to use your stolen identity to apply for credit, it would in theory block that application and so would stop that transaction. That's the ideal however there are a lot of exceptions to things like if you're applying for a job the employer can still get

your report if you are applying for a new lease the leasing company can get your report so be aware that it doesn't prevent everyone from gaining access so it doesn't one stop identity theft it doesn't stop someone from stealing your identity it will potentially help if someone uses that stolen identity to try to commit new credit fraud so to try to open a new account it's pretty limited in that in that regard but it can be the right tool depending on your circumstance excellent well rod thank you again so much for sharing this valuable information rod griffin again senior director of public education for experian make sure you go to experian.com e-x-p-e-r-i-a-n

dot com thank you so much again for listening and watching me david cogan host of the alliances hero show you know where to go alliances.com e-l-I-A-N-C-E-S.com Thank you again so much, Rod, for being here today and sharing this information. Thank you, David.