March 2021 E-Newsletter: Guarding Against Identity Theft
Jonathan M. Gardey, MBA, CFA®, CFP®
President and Chief Executive Officer
Protecting yourself against identity theft in the digital age era is very important. The following are some good practices that you can use to keep yourself digitally safe from criminals.
America is enduring a data breach problem.
As many workers traded in the office for remote work, data security has been a focus for the public and private sectors. Between robocalls pitching low-cost health insurance, pretending to be the I.R.S., or offering “work from home” opportunities, the pandemic has seen scammers getting more creative than they’ve ever been.1
Here are some steps to take to protect your vital information:
1. Tax time is prime time for identity thieves so know the safe options to file.
Criminals would love to get their hands on your tax form and they would also love to claim a phony refund using your personal information. You may realize you’ve been the victim of tax fraud if you can’t e-file your tax return because of a duplicate Social Security number or if you receive a notice from the I.R.S. that talks about owing taxes for a year you haven’t filed.2
Safe filing options include e-filing and sending your return via certified mail. Make sure when you e-file that you use a secure Internet connection. When you e-file you aren’t putting your Social Security number, address, and income information through the regular mail. You also aren’t leaving your tax forms on your desk at home or work while you get up to get some coffee or go out for a walk. If, somehow, you just can’t bring yourself to e-file, then think about sending your returns via certified mail. As for those rough drafts of your returns where you ran the numbers and checked your work - shred them.
Remember, the I.R.S. doesn’t send unsolicited emails to request information from taxpayers. If you get an email claiming to be from the I.R.S. asking for your personal or financial information, don’t respond and report it to your email provider as spam.2
2. Use secure Wi-Fi.
Avoid “coffee housing” your personal information away – never risk disclosing your financial information over a public Wi-Fi network. Broadband is susceptible, too.
Sure, a public Wi-Fi network at an airport or coffee house is password-protected – but if the password is posted on a wall or readily disclosed, really how protected is it? A favorite hacker trick is to sit idly at a coffee house, library, or airport and set up a Wi-Fi hotspot with a name similar to the legitimate one. Inevitably, people will fall for the ruse, log on, and get hacked.
3. Look for the “https” & the padlock icon when you visit a website with a caveat.
Not just http, but https. When you see that added “s” at the start of the website address, you are looking at a website with active SSL encryption, and you want that. A padlock icon in the address bar confirms an active SSL connection. The caveat is that it is very important to be especially careful when clicking on any links that you receive via email from an unknown sender. Many criminals have become much more digitally savvy and they use fraudulent sites that seem valid by using the “https” prefix. Look to see what the email is requesting? Examples are demanding payment or requesting your personal information. Look for any misspelled words, odd email addresses and extensions, or incorrect links in the email. Importantly, verify the request(s) by sending a separate email or calling the supposed contact to verify the validity of the email 3.
4. Check your credit report.
You may have been the victim of identity theft or fraud and do not even realize it until it shows up on your credit reports. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the big three agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. This year, because of the increased issues with identity theft and fraud during COVID-19, these three agencies are also allowing weekly credit checks from now until April 2021. Checking your credit report weekly will not affect your ability to order your free annual credit report.4, 5
5. Don’t talk to strangers.
Broadly speaking, that is very good advice in this era of identity theft. If you get a call or email from someone you don’t recognize – it could tell you that you’ve won a prize; it could claim to be someone from the county clerk’s office, a pension fund, or a public utility – be skeptical. Call the organization yourself to see if the contact is legitimate. Financially, you could be doing yourself a great favor.
For more information visit https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft
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Citations
1. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts
2. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/tax-related-identity-theft
3. https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2019/06/fbi-warning-lock-icon-doesnt-mean-website-safe/157629/
4. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports