Participants: Cordell Thomas
Series Code: TITTB
Program Code: TITTB000010
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00:01 On Take it to the Bank,
00:02 you'll find ways to get out of debt. 00:09 Solve your credit card problems. 00:14 How to make and stick with the budget? 00:19 Simple ways to save. 00:25 Buying or selling a home and many more financial matters 00:29 on Take it to the Bank. 00:32 Hi, my name is Cordell Thomas, 00:34 and welcome to Take it to the Bank. 00:36 Today we are gonna talk about something 00:38 that I think is of vital importance 00:39 to each one us. 00:40 We talked about information that's out there about you, 00:44 consumer information, your privacy, 00:45 and I think what we need to do 00:47 now is talk about ID theft and fraud 00:50 which is a real part of our existence. 00:52 We work so hard to... 00:55 Hopefully we work so hard to develop our budgets, 00:58 we work so hard to develop 01:00 an understanding of what money we can put away into savings, 01:03 and what we can do with our budgets, 01:05 and what we can do with our investments. 01:08 But there is an element out there 01:11 that would like to get in between us and our funds 01:14 and they're using many different methods 01:16 that are available to them. 01:18 We live in a technological age 01:20 where at the moment you hit a submit key, 01:23 that information is gone in minutes. 01:25 We live in an age where information you place 01:27 out there on the internet, once you release it, 01:30 you can never get it back. 01:31 And we need to understand 01:33 that there is an important element 01:34 for each one of us to understand 01:36 when it comes to our personal information. 01:39 Think about it. 01:41 Close to 40 percent of individuals 01:43 that are out there right now have no clue 01:45 that their identity has been stolen 01:47 for three months. 01:49 It takes up to 40 percent of those individuals 01:51 three months to know 01:53 that their identity has been stolen. 01:54 Guess what happens in three months? 01:57 A lot of things can happen 01:58 in reference to inappropriate charges on your credit. 02:03 A lot of other things that can, 02:05 they can happen from that standpoint 02:06 and your information has already probably been sold 02:09 on a global basis to these markets 02:12 that are looking for that type of information. 02:14 It is a real part. Here is another statistic. 02:17 Close to 20 percent of individuals 02:20 don't know for up to four years 02:22 that their identity has been stolen. 02:24 Four years, and that is a stark reality 02:27 because, you know, if it's been four years, 02:30 you know, how much damage has been done? 02:33 It's essential that we get into the habit, 02:35 on an ongoing basis, on a regular basis 02:38 to take a look at our credit report. 02:41 You have to be in touch with that 02:43 because you shouldn't be one of those individuals 02:47 that doesn't know for an extended amount of time. 02:50 Okay, I have a short story for you, 02:54 and I must share this with you because it impacted my family 02:58 and in-law had the same issue happened to her, 03:00 ID theft, and what happened? 03:02 She was fortunate, 03:04 these thieves actually had a scammer. 03:05 I think, they had a skimmer 03:07 that was out there with her at the actual bank. 03:09 When she went to a bank 03:10 to find out about getting a loan 03:13 for an additional property she wanted to purchase. 03:15 It was interesting because we don't know 03:17 exactly what happened, 03:19 but her credit card information or her social security number 03:23 or whatever that information was out there. 03:25 There were some warning signs 03:27 because that individual who stole her identity 03:30 tried calling her mother-in-law 03:32 to find out some details about her life 03:34 such as mother's maiden name, 03:36 and such as where she actually lived, 03:38 and the number of the house, 03:39 and a couple of other bits of information 03:41 that could have secured their ability 03:44 to completely steal her information. 03:47 But something came up 03:48 because one of the credit agencies 03:50 that or applied to saw a warning sign 03:53 because the address that they used 03:55 on the actual application was an uninhabited building 04:00 in the downtown location where they lived. 04:03 So that popped up a warning sign 04:04 and the actually contacted her 04:06 and said, "Hey, you don't live here 04:07 but somebody's applied for credit in your name 04:09 and that was a beginning of the potential nightmare. 04:13 She didn't know exactly what to do 04:15 as many of us don't because we don't think 04:16 it's going to happen to any one of us. 04:18 And she called me up and said "Hey, Cordell, what do I do?" 04:20 What are the things that I should take care of 04:22 in reference to protecting myself." 04:24 And there is three things 04:25 you should remember to do if in fact you find 04:29 that your identity has been compromised. 04:30 Number one, contact the police department. 04:33 Call them immediately. 04:34 They have a department open 24/7 04:37 that will handle your specific fraud complaint 04:40 and file a report on your behalf. 04:42 And you'll find that's going to be 04:43 important support mechanism, 04:45 and the report will be very helpful 04:48 when you approach your creditors, 04:50 and as well approach the credit bureaus 04:53 which leads to the second thing you should do. 04:55 Number two, contact the credit bureaus, 04:58 they have each one of the three have a 800 number for frauds, 05:02 specifically for fraud, 05:03 and I believe that those numbers 05:05 are now 24/7 numbers. 05:07 So you don't have to wait overnight 05:09 or you don't have to wait over a weekend. 05:11 You can pick up and call them 05:13 and let them know that you believe 05:14 that your identity has been compromised, 05:17 and they can pretty much put a freeze on your account, 05:20 and they'll ask for another lot of information about you 05:24 so that they can actually distinguish 05:27 who you are and filter out anyone 05:29 that may be calling in about credit on your name. 05:32 The third thing and the most important thing 05:35 you should also do is contact your creditors. 05:41 The interesting thing is what transpired 05:44 after these things occurred and she got these phone calls, 05:47 there is all of a sudden all around the city 05:49 that she lived applications started popping up. 05:53 Back at this department store, 05:54 at this organization, at many different places, 05:58 and it was interesting as I sat at the dining table 06:01 with her one time, a creditor called her 06:03 and said, "Hey, did you open this account 06:06 over this location?" 06:08 "No I didn't." 06:09 And they verified and went through 06:11 all of her security information 06:12 and they were able to shut that down. 06:14 In her situation she was very lucky 06:17 because the day they were trying to do something, 06:20 that credit card company was able to look 06:23 at some features that are warning signs 06:26 for this person to try to apply 06:28 for credit in this person's name. 06:31 Many different things can occur. 06:33 The fact is you need to be aware 06:35 of what's going on with your specific information. 06:39 You need to protect information that's out there about yourself 06:42 and you need to do as much as you possibly can 06:44 to protect yourself from having your identity stolen. 06:49 Key. 06:51 Now as we continue this conversation, 06:56 I want to give you a few statistics as a result 07:00 of what happens with ID theft. 07:03 For example, victims, 07:05 those who are victims spend between 3000 and 5000 hours 07:10 repairing the damage that's already been done. 07:12 32 percent of these respondents in the survey said 07:15 it took between four and six months 07:18 to deal with their case 07:19 and another 23 percent reported dealing with their case 07:23 from seven months to a year. 07:27 There is monitory cost for identity theft. 07:30 Up to $15, 000 per business, 07:32 victims lose an average of between $1,300 to $14,000 07:38 worth of wages fighting these specific cases, 07:41 and victims spend an average of $1,300 plus 07:45 and expenses related to their case. 07:48 There are practical and emotinous damage done 07:51 with identity theft. 07:52 47 percent of people said that they couldn't get credit 07:56 or had trouble getting credit or a loan 07:58 as a result of identity theft. 08:00 19 percent of victims have higher credit rates 08:03 and 16 percent have higher insurance rates 08:05 based on identity theft. 08:07 70 percent of victims have trouble getting rid of 08:10 or never get rid of negative information on their records. 08:15 Another 45 percent of victims 08:17 feels the sense of denial and disbelief. 08:21 85 percent of individuals find anger and rage 08:24 because of these things 08:26 that are going on in their lives, 08:27 their personal lives from somebody outside 08:29 that really doesn't even know who they are. 08:31 And then of course, 60 percent of individuals responded saying 08:36 that I feel unprotected by the authorities. 08:40 Uses of victim information is quite interesting. 08:43 More than a third of the victims reported 08:45 that their identity thieves committed check account fraud. 08:50 66 percent of victims, 08:52 their personal information was used to open new credit 08:58 in their name. 08:59 28 percent of victims, their personal information 09:03 was used in the purchase of cell phones. 09:05 And if you talk to police, 09:07 you know where these cell phones go. 09:08 These stolen cell phones show up in places 09:10 that they are not supposed to or inappropriate areas. 09:13 And then of course 12 percent of victims 09:14 end up of having warrants, 09:16 warrants issued in their name for financial crimes 09:19 committed by the identity thief. 09:25 This next statistic is quite interesting 09:28 because it has to do with impostor characteristics 09:30 in relationship to the victim. 09:32 Check this out, 09:33 43 percent of victims believe that they know the person 09:38 who stole their identity. 09:41 Up to 25 percent of victims believe the impostor 09:43 is someone who is in a business 09:46 that holds their personal identifying information. 09:48 Consider that. 09:50 We've heard of many of these organizations 09:53 from credit organizations to health organizations 09:57 to many different organizations that have had their data bases 10:01 hacked into and stolen. 10:03 Before you know it, 10:04 that information is all over globe with people 10:06 picking and choosing the personal information on you 10:09 and using it to create a whole new identity. 10:14 16 percent of identity theft victims 10:16 are also victims of domestic harassment 10:18 and abuse by the same perpetrator. 10:22 Responsiveness of victims. 10:25 Police department seemed to be getting more responsive. 10:27 What was interesting with the case with my in-law 10:30 that she was able to call the police department 10:33 at around 11:30 at night, 10:35 and was able to get a fraud investigator, 10:38 and within hours they actually came to her front door, 10:41 and were able to say we can take a report 10:43 but because you don't yet have the information 10:46 from your creditors we would advice you wait, 10:49 and then come in with that information, 10:51 so we can complete the report on your behalf. 10:54 20 percent of victims will have their misinformation 10:57 and errors removed from their credit report 11:00 so it takes vigilance from your perspective 11:03 to ensure that information is taken care of and removed. 11:08 But the quicker you find out about this, 11:11 the quicker you handle this, 11:12 the quicker you are aware of this 11:14 is a better off that you will be. 11:17 Now, I do want to bring in 11:20 Jessica Duong who is our identity theft 11:22 and fraud expert, and I have a question for her. 11:25 What should someone do 11:27 if they suspect that their ID has been compromised? 11:30 Jessica, can you give us an answer. 11:35 The first thing you should do is to go to the police station, 11:39 and file a police report. 11:41 Next there are several different websites out there 11:44 that I'll provide for you, 11:46 and you can put it up for your viewers. 11:49 For example the Federal Trade Commission 11:51 has lots of great resources, 11:55 they have different affidavits that you can printout, 11:58 and fill out, and report any discrepancies. 12:01 Also we work with a company called Kroll, 12:04 they are experts, they're licensed investigators, 12:08 they have attorneys working with them, 12:10 and they are throughout the world 12:13 basically researching, 12:15 and looking out for their clients 12:17 to make sure that if something happens 12:20 to your personal information, 12:22 they can restore your information for you. 12:26 Thank you, Jessica. 12:27 We're gonna actually come back to you in a few minutes, 12:29 we have another question for you but excellent. 12:32 It's interesting what she said because victims of ID theft 12:35 must act quickly to minimize the damage. 12:38 As in my in-law, 12:40 she was able to respond very quickly 12:42 because she had warning signs, 12:43 there are things that are out there. 12:45 There're unexpected calls coming from different locations 12:48 and doing different things. 12:49 People are looking for information 12:51 to complete a profile on who you are 12:54 so they can take that profile and use it as their own. 12:58 So the three things that you do 12:59 as Jessica indicated is number one, 13:02 you need to contact, 13:03 report it to the major credit bureaus. 13:06 Contact the fraud department, 13:07 they're open 24/7 of each of the credit bureaus, 13:10 and report that your identity has been stolen. 13:14 Ask them specifically, just remember fraud alert, 13:17 ask them to place a fraud alert in your files. 13:22 There are three agencies Transunion, 13:26 Experian and of course Equifax. 13:28 Second, file a police report with the local police 13:32 or police where the identity theft occurred. 13:37 Get a copy of a police report, 13:39 and retain it for your records, credit card companies, 13:41 and financial institutions may acquire you 13:44 to show a copy of this report 13:46 to verify that the crime actually happened 13:49 so you need to go, and talk to the police, 13:51 and you need to ask specifically 13:53 for the fraud department. 13:56 Then the third area, 13:57 and the most important is to contact your creditor 14:00 for any accounts that had been fraudulently access 14:03 or open contact, 14:04 the billing enquires and securities department 14:06 for the appropriate creditors or financial institution. 14:10 Close the accounts, and use passwords 14:14 now new passwords, 14:16 not necessarily a mother's maiden name 14:17 that's what everyone uses, 14:19 and that's probably why they were calling 14:21 her mother in-law to find out what is your mom's maiden name. 14:25 And they know the typical questions to ask, 14:27 so change the passwords 14:29 to something a little bit more difficult and challenging. 14:31 Hey, that can be interesting to deal with 14:35 because I figure out passwords that I can't even remember 14:38 so I do is I put them in a safe place, 14:41 and I ensure that I can have access to it when I needed. 14:46 Ask that the old accounts be processed as account closed 14:50 at consumer's request. 14:53 Having a card lost or stolen reference 14:55 because when this statement is reported to credit bureaus, 14:59 it can be interpreted as blaming you for the loss. 15:03 Carefully monitor all of your mail, 15:05 your credit card bills, 15:06 and report immediately to your company 15:09 or your creditor that you see some new fraudulent activity 15:12 and maintain vigilance. 15:14 Remember, there is a Bible verse 15:16 that we talk about in 2 Timothy 4:7, 15:19 and it says therefore I have fought the good fight, 15:23 I have finished the race, I have kept the faith 15:26 therefore there is in store for me a reward. 15:28 I have finished the race. This is a race of endurance. 15:33 I have mentioned before that I have run marathon, 15:36 and it is an interesting capacity 15:39 when you hit that wall. 15:40 It's interesting when you deal with challenges 15:43 during the course of that race, and throughout your life, 15:46 throughout your financial life, 15:47 you're going to deal with many different obstacles 15:51 that you may seem way out of control, 15:53 but, believe me there are options, 15:57 there are things you can do, 15:58 there are things that you can... 16:00 Places you can access and information you can get 16:03 that will help alleviate some of the tensions. 16:06 And as long as you know the top three things 16:08 you need to do in identity theft situation, 16:10 then you know exactly what to do. 16:13 So again what are the three things? 16:15 Contact the police department number one. 16:17 What's number two? 16:19 You want to go and report it 16:20 to the fraud department at your credit bureaus. 16:24 And number three, what is that? 16:26 You need to report it to all of your creditors. 16:29 In that case you're doing as much as you possibly can 16:32 to minimize the problem that's there. 16:35 Now there are some other things you can do 16:37 but before we get into that specific element, 16:40 I'm going to actually go back and have a conversation 16:44 with Jessica with the question is, 16:46 what additional resources are available 16:49 to assist with fraud. 16:53 Jessica, can you address that question? 16:57 The four different types of policies 16:59 that insurance companies have come up 17:00 with is reimbursement, resolution, 17:06 monitoring and restoration. 17:09 What we recommend is to have a combination 17:12 of a monitoring service, 17:14 and then a restoration service when you become a victim, 17:17 experts can restore your information for you. 17:21 Thank you, Jessica, 17:23 it's gratifying to have the resources 17:26 of an expert like Jessica. 17:27 She's been very helpful. 17:28 In fact when the situation happened with my in-law, 17:30 I gave my in-law the information 17:32 that I had in the top of my head, 17:34 but it drove me to begin to understand 17:37 how much this credit card and identity theft 17:40 is really impacting us. 17:42 And I was able to call up Jessica 17:44 and say that I have a problem. 17:47 I have a in-law that has, had her identity stolen. 17:50 She jumped right on the issue 17:52 and gave me a plethora of information, 17:55 a lot of information that was quite beneficial for me 17:58 to also send to my in-law. 18:01 It's real, it happens. 18:03 Be vigilant, follow your credit, 18:06 follow all of your reports. 18:08 Get the free copies of your reports. 18:10 Watch out for new accounts being set up in your name. 18:14 It's really difficult to turn things around 18:17 from that standpoint. 18:19 And then one of the other things 18:20 I would ask you to be careful of is, 18:24 if you're not vigilant, 18:25 you might find warrants for your arrest popping up, 18:28 because these individuals are not nice 18:31 when they get access to a new identity, 18:33 they use it for bad things. 18:35 It's imperative that as you run this race, 18:39 you run it with diligence 18:41 and run it as smart as you possibly can. 18:46 Now I'm going to talk to you 18:48 about something that's important, 18:50 and it's actually a learning curve for me 18:52 because as I learn more about technology, 18:55 there is this new area of identity theft 18:59 that is very important to be aware of. 19:03 There is a difference between 19:06 the typical types of identity theft, 19:08 and internet identity theft. 19:12 The one major difference and one main difference 19:15 between internet identity thefts, 19:18 and basic ID theft in fraud is this. 19:23 With internet identity theft, 19:25 we don't have to wait for a thief 19:27 to physically steal our information, 19:30 instead we may be unwittingly 19:33 handing over the information ourselves. 19:35 What do I mean by that? 19:37 In internet protocol, our identity on the internet 19:40 is made up of several things. 19:42 It's made up of IP address 19:44 or an internet protocol address. 19:47 It's made up of the physical address 19:49 that we live. 19:51 It's made up of usernames and passwords and pin numbers, 19:55 personal identification numbers, 19:57 and social security numbers, 19:58 and birth dates, and account numbers, 20:01 and mother's maiden names, and etcetera. 20:04 Did you know that all of that information 20:06 is out there about you? 20:10 However because we use the internet 20:12 for all sorts of financial transactions, 20:15 criminals are developing sophisticated techniques 20:20 to steal our digital identities. 20:23 Internet ID theft statistics 20:26 show their aim is to use our identities 20:29 to open credit card accounts, bank loans, mortgages, 20:33 and in fact any transaction that will make money. 20:38 Now there are three different forms of how they trick us 20:42 into giving them information. 20:45 Information about us can be stolen 20:47 by computer criminals from the data bases of banks, 20:51 remember I talked about other organizations 20:54 that have had their data bases hacked. 20:57 Their prime target is hacking into the information 21:01 that these major organizations have about us 21:04 so they go after banks, and retailers and ISPs, 21:09 internet service providers 21:11 as well as data clearing houses. 21:15 However there is an easier way for the thief 21:19 that is to come and steal the information from us 21:22 or trick us into providing that information. 21:25 Three different ways I'm gonna provide to you. 21:27 The first one is fishing, 21:30 not fishing going out and throwing out a lure, 21:32 but it's pretty much as same it's 'PHISHING'. 21:39 Just like fishing, sometimes it's called spoofing. 21:42 It's like a lure that's thrown out there 21:44 to catch you as a victim. 21:47 This lure often comes in the form of spam email 21:50 of popup warnings that look like 21:53 legitimate companies that we worked with, 21:56 and the purpose of the phishing lure 21:58 is of such, the purpose is to have you click on a link, 22:04 and to verify and or to cancel a purchase 22:08 that you may have unwittingly made. 22:10 You didn't make the purchase but they act as if you did. 22:14 It might be a popup link to get you to click on 22:18 an update of personal information. 22:21 It may be a request to validate your account 22:24 information to prevent it from being cancelled. 22:27 They put it out there as a sense of urgency, 22:29 and you feel wow, if I don't do anything, 22:31 something's gonna happen, 22:32 and you click on it and unwittingly 22:34 what happens is where the moment 22:36 we click on the link we are directed to a website 22:40 that looks just like our companies website. 22:42 I have actually been phished before, 22:45 and went to a website of a banking organization, 22:50 and it looked just like the original, 22:52 but guess what? 22:54 I knew something was wrong 22:55 because they were asking for information 22:56 that the bank's website never really asks for. 22:59 They never send out an email saying hey, 23:02 we need this information from you. 23:05 And they are asking this type of information 23:08 such as warning signs, security number, 23:12 social security number, 23:13 credit card number or a password. 23:16 When you see that type of thing happening, 23:18 there is a problem. 23:20 Call your bank first, 23:21 and check with them before doing anything 23:24 that might give out personal information. 23:27 57 million people have experienced phishing attacks, 23:32 1.78 million adults have fallen victim to the same 23:35 and it's the cost of phishing right now 23:38 has added up to $1.2 billion plus. 23:42 Look, legitimate companies 23:44 will never ask for our personal information in that manner. 23:48 Second, identity theft statistics on pharming. 23:53 Okay, am I playing a game here with words? 23:56 Not really. This is actually out there. 23:58 Pharming, not "farming" but "pharming" 24:04 if I spell it wrong, please forgive me. 24:07 Identity theft through pharming 24:09 is great deal different than just phishing. 24:11 What's the difference? 24:12 In pharming, a cyber criminal cracks 24:15 the vulnerability 24:16 of an internet service providers DNS server. 24:19 What am I saying? 24:20 They are cracking into a company's information 24:24 and domain name, 24:25 and what they do is once they crack 24:26 into the company's information, 24:28 they steal the company's domain name. 24:32 And so, once they have hacked into it, 24:34 they take the company's name and make it their own. 24:39 So when you click on it, 24:40 anyone going to that genuine site 24:43 of that organization 24:44 is redirected to an identical bogus site. 24:48 That bogus site then takes your information, 24:51 and pin number, and account number 24:54 which the "pharmers" immediately use 24:59 to go back to the genuine site and make purchases. 25:03 Am I confusing you or what not, but it's getting that technical 25:07 and having an understanding 25:09 of what's actually going on out there is critical. 25:12 Pharming is a big, big issue right now 25:16 where a lot of companies are dealing with these issues, 25:21 where their domain name is stolen from them, 25:24 and then their customers that have worked with them 25:27 and been with them for long time 25:29 are forwarded to another site 25:31 which those people take their information 25:34 and then use it to go to the original site 25:37 to make purchases that they take 25:39 and uses their own. 25:41 Phishing, Pharming, 25:48 and then there is number three, ID theft of spam and spyware. 25:55 This is very interesting. 25:56 We can inadvertently download spyware 26:00 by just clicking on a popup ad and viewing a spam email. 26:03 For example, spyware is technology 26:06 that suspiciously or gathers information 26:09 such as personal IDs 26:11 and passwords for bank accounts. 26:14 It can do this by logging all of our keyboard strokes. 26:19 It can log all of our keyboard strokes. 26:21 What you type in to the keyboard 26:23 or by using things called trogons 26:25 and other techniques to collect information from your PC. 26:30 This information is then passed back to the perpetrator 26:35 when we connect to the internet. 26:37 So it automatically goes back to them. 26:40 Spam and spyware risks 26:41 are things that you need to be aware of that compromises 26:46 your personal information and creates problems for you 26:51 if you are not aware of what to look for. 26:52 So in this area of internet ID theft, 26:58 I asked you to do a couple of things. 27:00 If you have a computer and internet access, 27:04 I ask that you put up a firewall. 27:07 Talk to an expert on that, 27:09 someone that knows about computers 27:10 and they'll explain that for you. 27:12 Secondarily, get virus protection. 27:14 These viruses that come in on timely basis are things 27:17 that can hurt you, they can cause a lot of damage, 27:20 they can cause a lot of pain when you find all of a sudden 27:24 that something has happened in your credit file. 27:27 Secondarily, what I asked you to do 27:30 is maintain vigilance 27:31 when coming to your credit information. 27:34 Ask for that free copy of your file on a yearly basis. 27:40 Maintain interaction with your credit companies 27:44 and make sure you stay in touch 27:46 so that if and when something like this can happen, 27:50 you too can be a very educated consumer 27:55 when you begin the process 27:56 of taking it to the bank and saving. 28:00 God bless. |
Revised 2016-06-16