Introduce yourself (best to provide brief bio to host so he or she can give your background) I m with American Century Investments and it is a

Transcription

1 Introduce yourself (best to provide brief bio to host so he or she can give your background) I m with American Century Investments and it is a pleasure to talk about Identity Theft and Online Privacy this evening. It is a growing issue and to give you a few statistics regarding identity theft, 17.6 million (7% of the US population) were victims of identity theft in 2014 reported by U.S. Department of Justice (September, 2015) and nearly 500,000 complaints were received by the FTC in

2 One analogy that can be used to discuss identity theft may be the most dangerous thing we do almost every day drive in the car. There are many risks when you are on the road. We take all precautions we can to make it as safe as possible buckle seat belts, follow all traffic regulations. no texting, etc. We can do the same thing with identity theft and online privacy. Everyone has a different risk tolerance when it comes to protecting their identity and online security, much like investing. One of the first questions your financial advisor (use advisor s name if possible) will ask you is how much risk is acceptable with your investments. Protecting your identity and online security is very similar some will want to take every step possible while others are comfortable doing a few basic strategies. We will start our discussion by providing a definition, what is it and how are we at risk. Next, address social media and online security and finish with some ideas on how to improve on the level of protection. 2

3 Identity theft is when someone pretends to be you and uses your identifying information (name, social security number, date of birth) to commit fraud or other unlawful activities. This can take three forms: 1. Existing Assets - thieves can target your existing assets such as using your credit card or taking money out of your bank accounts. This is the most common but also the least severe form of identity theft. 2. New Debt - thieves can open up new debt accounts in your name such as applying for new credit cards, mortgages, 3. Cloning - the most severe form of identity theft is called cloning, when someone actually assumes your identity in another location. This can happen if someone wants to hide their true identity such as fugitives or illegal immigrants. What is the most difficult to fix? Cloning. Followed by New Debt and then Existing Assets. With Existing Assets and New Debt institutions are stuck with the majority of the bill. The good news is that the vast majority of ID Theft crimes involve existing assets usually because of a lost wallet or purse. 3

4 First two are existing debt and fairly easy to fix. Remaining 4 fall under cloning and are more difficult, costly and time consuming to fix. IRS takes fraudulent tax returns very seriously. They have an Identity Theft Specialized Unit to combat this activity. This does give you extra incentive to not procrastinate and file as early as possible. 4

5 IRS takes fraudulent tax returns very seriously. They have an Identity Theft Specialized Unit to combat this activity. Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) Enforcement is one of the Tax Division s highest priorities. They are responsible for prosecuting people who use stolen identities to steal money by filing fake tax returns that claim tax refunds. From 2011 through October 2014, the IRS has stopped 19 million suspicious tax returns and protected more than $63 billion in fraudulent refunds. Be on guard if you receive a notice from the IRS that more than one tax return was filed for you; you owe additional tax; have a refund offset or have had collection actions taken against you for a year you did not file a tax return; or IRS records indicate you received more wages than you actually earned. 5

6 First step to prevention is to be aware. Identity thieves access your personal information by many different means, including; stealing your wallet or purse; posing as someone who needs information about you through a phone call or ; looking through your trash for personal information; stealing your mail and accessing information you provide to an unsecured internet site. 6

7 Most countries have adopted EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa), a technology which uses an embedded chip instead of a magnetic strip. EMV chips are small computers encrypted with personal information. That information remains blocked to any card readers until a consumer enters a PIN to activate it. The chip technology is more difficult to crack. Beginning in the fall 2015, the credit-card companies will hold merchants who don t accept EMV cards liable for fraudulent transactions from magnetic stripe cards. The timeframes for compliance are - most merchants (petroleum pay at-pump transactions are excluded at this time) need to support EMV by October 2015 and petroleum pay-at-pump merchants need to support EMV by October

8 Lets move to the second part of our presentation Social Media and Your Privacy/Security. Social media includes electronic communications such as websites, blogs and apps where users create communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, pictures, etc. An app is an abbreviation for application. A piece of software that can run on your computer, laptop or phone. In September of 2009 there were 85,000 apps at the iphone App Store, now more than 1 million. 8

9 In 2013 Snapchat turned down a offer to be acquired by Facebook. Facebook then purchased WhatsApp, a company that provides unlimited text and voic messages. These apps are very popular in the U.S. and other countries. India and Brazil are two countries highly coveted by tech companies for their large populations and emerging mobile customer base. It is worth noting that the younger generation (tweens and teens) may be increasingly turning away from Facebook for their social media needs. Their parents, grandparents, coaches, etc are their Friends and they may be looking for more privacy. Apps like Snapchat, Backchat and Ask.fm have become very popular. 9

10 Social media is changing the way our world operates. Social media sites collect as much data as possible to help advertisers deliver ads that you may find useful. How many of you have searched for something or shopped online and later found advertisements for those items now pop up in the margins. What do they know about you? What web sites you visit or like sports teams, health conditions or treatments, race, the list is often endless What information you search for Purchase history Geographic location Family members and pet names address Birthdate The vast majority of information is shared voluntarily. One of my favorite quotes from the movie The Social Network is when someone asks Mark Zuckerberg (founder) how he was able to collect over 100,000 addresses at the time. His response, We asked. 10

11 Social media sites want you to share as much information as possible. We will talk in our prevention section about safety guidelines online. Most are reassured that only their friends have access to our status and updates, but..you can never be certain. Accounts are hacked every day. Here are some examples of oversharing. Full birthdate is one of the 3 or 4 pieces of personal information that is needed to steal your identity. Consider leaving out the year. Your relationship status stalkers would love to know that you just became newly single. It also lets them know you might be home alone. Best bet is to just leave this blank. Posting your current location lets everyone know you are not at home. Pictures of children tagged with their names could be used by a predator to lure your child. Anything you do on social media can and may be used against you in a court of law. Usually applies to divorces and custody battles. Angry rants or inappropriate pictures can help make a case against you. Lawyers will use social media to establish a person s character and where and when something took place social media does a lot of legwork that a private investigator would normally do. Always pros and cons. People have lost jobs over material posted on social media. On the other hand many have found jobs using social media. 11

12 This takes us to the last goal of our presentation Prevention and Protection. We ll start with online protection and then move to more traditional measures you can take to protect yourself. Remember, achieving 100% protection is not possible, the goal is to make yourself a hard target for identity thieves. Social Media Privacy Settings Share only with Friends this is under Who Can See My Stuff in Facebook. Sharing info with Friends of Friends could expose your information with tens of thousands. Unpublic your Wall - set the audience for all previous posts to just Friends. Turn off Tag Suggest if you would rather not have Facebook automatically recognize your face in photos. Lists on Facebook you can create lists with a select group of people (close friends, family members, etc..) Social media sites absolutely want you to share as much information as possible. As a result, default privacy settings may not be in your best interests and can be very difficult to manage and comprehend. In most cases it is a best practice to maximize your privacy settings on any social media site. Also assume anything you post on a social media site can be seen by all your family, friends, employer, health provider, and government. 12

13 Common passwords include, names of spouse, child, or pet possibly followed by 0 or 1, the last four digits of your SSN, number sequences like 123 or 1234 or and , letter and number sequences like abc123, the word password itself, city, college, or sports team names and birthdate for you, your spouse, or child. Thieves will use everything they know about you to try to guess your username and passwords. Guess where a lot of them get this personal information? You give it to them via social media. 13

14 There are now apps that can help you manage your passwords. Here are some suggestions to create a strong password. Build a password with at least 8-12 characters that contains characters from each of these categories: Uppercase letters A,B,C Lowercase letter a,b,c Numbers 1,2,3,4 Symbols -!@#$% Create at least 3 passwords vs. using one for all accounts. Store your passwords in a secure space. Make passwords memorable without using personal data. Create an acronym or saying from an easy to remember phrase YumBeet$14 21Its@WLife NBigBo@t82 14

15 I m fairly certain everyone in this room has received a phishing . In fact, I have received a few recently. Here are some guidelines when responding to requests for information. Treat ALL unsolicited requests for sensitive information with extreme caution. Here are some common characteristics used in phishing scams: Well known company Threat account will be closed Link to a site or a phone number - NEVER click or dial Bad spelling and grammar When in Doubt go to the company s website and call their customer service number to see if there is actually an issue with your account. Do not trust any information in the . You should forward phishing s to phishing-report@us-cert.gov Remember, the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by or social media tools to request personal or financial information. If you receive a scam claiming to be from the IRS, forward it to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov 15

16 Here is an example of an phishing . An individual using EBAY extensively to buy golf clubs and accessories. Receives an asking to confirm account number asap to avoid having their account shut down. Considered the request for the briefest moment, reviewed the checklist and then realized it was a scam before sending account info. Well known company CHECK Threat CHECK. Want verification in 48 hours or account will be suspended. Second to last paragraph Link to a site - CHECK Bad spelling or grammar CHECK. There are quite a few. Misspelled received in opening paragraph 16

17 Protect your computer by installing an antivirus program: Odds are good that when you buy a new computer it will come with security software. Free programs are all that most users need Apple computers experience fewer attacks than PCs. Their firewall and security features should offer sufficient protection Don t use public computers for sensitive transactions such as billing or banking. Secure your wireless network strong password. Look for or a picture of a lock when you are on a website. 17

18 Lock your phone - Yes, it's a pain, but we should all be using the locking features on our phones so that if they're stolen, our info isn't readily available to the thief. So set one of those 4-digit passwords, and make it a strong one. Install track and wipe software - If your phone is stolen, it's ultra handy (and fun, in a revenge sort of way) to be able to track where the thieves have taken it, so maybe the authorities can even get it back. On the other hand, if the "search" option doesn't work out, you should also have the "destroy" option. In other words: software that can automatically wipe your cell phone of its contents remotely. Just make sure you back up your phone's contents to your computer and this will work just fine. 18

19 We will finish the presentation with the more traditional strategies to protect yourself and your family. It is important to understand what information is at risk including, Social Security number, birthdate, Mother s maiden name, passwords, driver s license number, PIN numbers, credit card numbers and bank account numbers. 19

20 To prevent ID Theft the best place to start is your purse or wallet. Consider removing unnecessary information and limiting it to your driver s license, 1 credit card (possibly 2 if you use a business card), debit card, gym card, work identification card, health insurance card. Many places like Kohls do not require the actual card they can look up your account with your driver s license. 20

21 Protect your mail to prevent access to your information. Consider purchasing a cross cut or confetti shredder to shred information before throwing it out. Also opt out from offers whenever possible. Sources of vulnerable information you receive include, telephone and utility bills, monthly credit card bills and bank statements, pre-approved credit card offers, pay check stubs and direct deposit receipts, 401k and other investment statements, annual Social Security account statement and tax information. It is a good idea to stop your mail anytime you will be on vacation or away from home. Also, remember that unfortunately, a significant number of identity theft cases are committed by someone you know and perhaps trust. Anyone you let into your home could potentially take that information for illegal purposes. This includes, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, handymen, plumbers, babysitters, pet sitters, house sitters, etc. 21

22 It s best to file and store important documents in secure places such as a locking fire safe file cabinet, a home safe, a safety deposit box at your bank. Where do you keep your car titles, birth certificates, Social Security cards, tax returns (5 years), insurance policies, deeds to property and loan agreements. 22

23 Go to You ll be asked to enter in some identifying information to confirm your identity and then you ll be given access to your credit report. Rather than getting all three reports all at once, it s better to space them apart so you get a new report every 4 months. If you notice an error or discrepancy on your credit report, look into immediately. Note you do not get your actual credit score. Check your accounts often online if possible. NEVER give personal information in response to unsolicited s or phone calls. Don t leave your mail in box overnight and stop mail when you will be away. Create strong passwords. Set privacy controls on sites like Facebook and be very careful what information you make available online. File your tax return as soon as possible if you can t file early you can get can get a PIN number from IRS.gov. If you are not filing electronically hand your tax return directly to a postal employee. Shred all sensitive information. 23

24 If you do become a victim, the key to limiting damage is to act swiftly. This list should help. 1. Close compromised accounts 2. Contact all your financial institutions immediately 3. Change your passwords 4. Contact one of the big three credit reporting bureaus and ask them to flag your information with a fraud alert. One call will place alert at all three. Experian Equifax TransUnion File a police report 6. Be sure to document everything in writing 7. Keep names and dates of everyone you speak to 24

25 Thank you. 25