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As the business world continues to turn increasingly digital, consumers and businesses have no choice but to adapt how they conduct financial transactions (and disclose personal information, indirectly). Identity-related crime strategies used by scammers also change with the times, as new trends provide criminals with ample opportunities to deceive and victimize.
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According to Lou Senko, chief availability officer for Q2 Holdings, a company that provides digital banking and lending solutions to banks and credit unions, “Identity crimes are always a challenge for consumers” — and for institutions trying to differentiate between honest customers and “bad actors.”
“Financial institutions are seeing these types of scams show up for new digital account openings,” said Senko. “Since the financial institution doesn’t have an existing relationship (behavior profile) of the prospective new user, it becomes difficult to detect. There are several tools available to detect and block automation, non-human actors, and behavioral analysis matches for existing users. Still, a new, previously unknown user is more difficult to identify.”
However, financial fraud is but one result of identity theft. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), social media takeovers and business data breaches cause irreparable personal and professional damage, and show no signs of slowing down this year.
The following is a list of ITRC’s eight identity theft trends that everyone should be aware of for 2023, as well as some suggestions on how to protect yourself from identity theft — including one measure you may not have considered.
Scammers are deceitful and will try anything to target the vulnerable or the technologically-hesitant. Practicing common-sense and smart cyber strategies — being skeptical and disengaging with any suspicious contact, resisting giving out any personal information, refusing to pay an unknown or suspicious contact when requested, and enabling password protection tactics on all your devices — won’t deter thieves from trying to steal your identity… but it will lessen their chances of being successful.
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For those who are concerned about identity theft and the possibility that their information might be exposed to a data breach, freezing your credit is a good idea, according to Senko.
“The most effective thing the average person can do is proactively freeze their credit with the three major bureaus,” recommended Senko. “From there, the credit freeze must be managed by the individual (unfreeze the account or suspend) when they want to perform a transaction that requires the credit service themselves.”
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