hey what's up everybody and welcome to
another video from the Keystone
Financial Academy
my name is alien and today we're gonna
cover a really important topic we're
going to talk about everything you need
to do if you become the victim of
identity theft and of course how to
prevent it in the first place before we
start be sure to subscribe so you don't
miss any of the upcoming the national
investing videos and if you like this
video please hit the like button below
okay let's talk about identity theft
first of all what exactly is it it's the
crime of stealing and impersonating
another person's identity for financial
gain this is something that happened to
anybody children adults seniors the
victims can be any gender race ethnicity
or income level how much of a problem is
it so here are a few statistics I've
found from 2018 across the nation in
2018 there was fourteen point four
million cases of identity theft with 1.7
billion dollars in out-of-pocket
recovery costs one in fifteen people
were affected and surprisingly 1 million
children were victims of identity theft
the average clean up from an ID theft
was six months and two hundred hours of
work and the average cost was six
hundred dollars per incident and that of
course is not counting the time spent
cleaning up and the aggravation which
you can't really put a price on identity
theft is one of the most common
consequences of data breaches and
exposed consumer records which if you
recall for a major headline news item in
the last couple of years with everybody
from Yahoo to Equifax getting hacked the
other way to become a victim is to
individual hacking or theft of personal
information while data breaches are
unfortunately mostly out of control is
the individual hacking in the data theft
that you can do something about let's go
through the sole piece by piece by first
describing the warning signs of identity
theft then what to do if you victim and
finally how to prevent it in the first
place first of all how do you know when
your personal info is compromised
here are some warning signs that your
personal data was stolen and someone is
pretending to be you these range across
several categories of ID theft such as
medical ID theft tax ID theft and
general financial fraud so not all of
these may be applicable to your specific
situation it just depends on what
exactly was stolen number one your bank
statement doesn't look right or your
checks bounced
number two you see unfamiliar and
authorized activity on your credit card
or credit report number three your bills
and mail are missing or you receive
unfamiliar bills number four you get
denials for loan applications number
five you notice an unexpected drop in
your credit score number six your cell
phone or other utility loses service
number seven you receive calls from debt
collectors for a County didn't open
number eight your medical bill don't
make sense don't add up or your medical
claim was denied number nine you're
unable to file taxes because someone
else has already filed attacks in your
name and finally number ten you were
notified your information was exposed in
a data breach so if you have confirmed
you're the victim of identity theft you
will need to take some or all of the
following steps as soon as possible a
few of these of course will take some
time but at least get them started so
action number one would be to place a
fraud alert with all three CRA s and get
your credit reports as soon as possible
here are the web addresses and the phone
numbers to use I also post these in the
description below number two
call any company where you know fraud
has occurred and close and freeze all
accounts if you don't close them at
least change pins and logins number
three report identity theft to the FTC
the Federal Trade Commission go to this
website or call this number and include
as many details as possible based on
information you enter identity theft
that gov will create your identity theft
report and recovery plan if you create
an account the FTC will walk you through
each of the recovery steps that for
close any new counts opened in your name
explain to the businesses that somebody
stole your identity and ask them to
close the accounts and send you a letter
that they actually did this number five
remove bogus charges from your accounts
explain that summer story identity and
point out which charges are fraudulent
ask the businesses to remove the charges
and send you letter confirming that they
went ahead and did this correct your
credit report with the big three CRA S
by contact in the fraud department you
already have the web addresses and the
phone numbers here are the actual
physical addresses I will also put these
in the description below
number seven consider adding an extended
fraud alert or a credit freeze on your
credit accounts this is something I'm
actually gonna talk about in just a few
minutes if you suspect a misuse social
security number review your social
security work history you do this
by creating an account of this address
and if you find errors contact your
local Social Security Administration
office number nine if you suspect your
taxes have been filed fortunately
contact the IRS immediately and let them
know number ten if you suspect medical
services were given to someone else
under your name
contact your health provider right away
and let them know number eleven stop
debt collector from trying to collect
debts that you don't owe the FTC's
identitytheft.gov website can actually
help you out with this by giving you the
proper letters to write number twelve
replacing government-issued ID is at the
first opportunity and finally number
thirteen clear your name of any
potential wrongdoing by contacting your
local police department and letting them
know about the ID theft that way if
somebody uses your name and a crime you
won't be confused with that person now
this is pretty rare but it has happened
before so after seeing and hearing this
checklist you might presume that when it
comes to ID theft prevention is far
better than the cure and you would be
correct
here are some steps you can take to
minimize the chance that you will fall
victim to identity theft or not let the
theater do too much damage if it happens
okay so the number one thing is freeze
your credit a freeze will stop all
activity on your credit file and since
the credit check is always required this
will stop anyone trying to open an
account after stealing your identity of
course this will also prevent a
legitimate credit inquiry so you'll have
to unfreeze your credit if you're about
to apply for say a car loan this action
has become far easy-to-implement since
the Equifax data breach in 2017 and one
time they refused to do this but all
three CRS have agreed to allow freezing
and unfreezing completely free of charge
to freeze our on freezer credit go
online with all three CRA s at the
website shown here and I'll also post
them in the description below
number two is safeguard your social
security number you've no doubt heard
this piece of advice until much needed
security reforms happen in this area
social security number will remain the
master key to a lot of your personal
data guarded as best you can when asked
for the number asked in turn why is it
needed and how will it be protected on
your behalf
don't carry the social security card
with you and be sure to securely store
or shred any paperwork that has a number
printed on it
number three is scrubbies social media
don't give away any personal data your
social security numbers side there's a
lot of other information that has a
value to an identity thief do not for
example reveal your mother's may name or
your exact birthday think of any other
information that you use as personal
challenge questions when you're
resetting an account or just proving who
you are during a login if thieves learn
this info they can impersonate you and
take over your accounts number four
monitor your medical and financial
records this should go without saying
check your bank statements and accounts
for any errors this is the canary in the
coal mine so to speak any theft of your
personal information will first show up
and your credit and bank statements or
accounts also monitor your medical
records to make sure no one is getting
care under your name number five shred
everything invest in a good cross
shredder and destroy all documents no
matter how insignificant once they're no
longer needed shred all unsolicited
credit card offers or opt out using this
website and phone number number six keep
an eye on your mail use a secure mailbox
or retrieve email immediately after
receiving it if you're wearing vacation
have the post office hold all your mail
and try to go for paperless billing on
all your bills
number seven keep an eye on your wallet
or purse while out in public carry as
little as possible and take photocopies
of the front and back of your ID credit
cards debit cards and pretty much
anything you have in your wallet keeping
that image at home in a secure location
if you plastic is stolen you can quickly
figure out the numbers to call and
cancel or reset everything
number eight secure your online data and
use strong passwords until more secure
ways to prove who person is online are
implemented try your best to use
stronger passwords and do not reuse too
many of them across your critical
websites such as banking etc
additionally be cautious about clicking
on any unfamiliar attachments or links
in your email watch for unsecured
websites using only the ones that have
HTTPS in the header and be careful in
any public computer or Wi-Fi system so
these are the essential facts identity
theft how to recognize
it's happened how to deal with it and
how to prevent it as always be sure to
subscribe to this channel there's a lot
more useful videos just like this one on
the way and if you enjoyed this
particular video and found it useful
please do smash that like button below
and finally let me know in the comments
as to what topics you would like to see
me cover more of thanks for watching and
I'll see you guys soon