Social Engineering on bank accounts - advice please?

[Steve-arino]

I received a call from the Fraud Dept. at Best Buy (I do/did have a BB credit card) that someone called and attempted to use my account for a purchase. I discussed with a supervisor. and cancelled my account - no harm done. For sanity/security I then checked other my other CC accounts and an attempt was made this morning to access another of my CC's as well. Hmm. Their Fraud Dept. caught this as well. So my day was filled with the joy of changing lots of passwords, cancelling some CC accounts and getting new cards from others.

Best Buy gave me the phone number of the person that tried to access my account. I used every reverse lookup I could find and none of them had information on this phone number.

Are there other steps I can or should take at this point? I'm pretty careful with this stuff in general (like changing passwords on a fairly regular basis, making them strong, etc.). I'm pretty careful about the sites that I do use my CC's on as well. And I'll be more careful and shred documents from now on.

I'm not going to get angry at the reps for asking me all the security questions that they do anymore ;-). I'm glad they do.

Thanks....

Steve_arino
McPherson Carbon Touring
Kinnaird OM 42
Froggy Bottom Parlor
Waterloo WL-12mh

[Cabarone]

I signed up w/all the fraud protection agencies last year when something similar happened to me. Seems like I started w/the FTC and was automatically enrolled w/Experian, Equifax and the one I can never remember. All my bank accounts have the same protection given. Any inquiries done in my name or SSN are flagged and no new accounts can be opened w/out my first being contacted. I just finished filing the paperwork w/a check cashing business in Cincinnati where someone had (unsuccessfully) tried to open a acct. Had to get a police report and fill out an affidavit they sent before they let me off the hook. Funny thing is, it's been my experience the lending agencies haven't wanted to disclose any information to me (how much they got, were they successful, any details)...and I was the victim!

Anyway, sorry it happened; get all your accts. protected and good luck in the future...

Denver

[srick]

Everyone - THE MOST effective means of preventing identity theft is to place a freeze on access to your credit reports. It’s fairly easy, but the three major credit reporting agencies don’t like making the process obvious.

A credit freeze prevents any one from accessing your credit history. It’s as simple as that. The only time that this information is necessary is when you are applying for new credit (ie. Car loan, mortgage, credit card) or have an ongoing relationship with a lender who requires access periodically (in my case, a business loan). At that time, the freeze can be temporarily lifted. ( This was recently the case for me as we are re-negotiating a mortgage - I specified that the freeze get lifted for ten days.)

Sometimes this ‘service’ is free (especially if you are a victim of identity theft) and sometimes there is a charge (usually $10 per agency). There may also be a charge to unfreeze the credit). It’s far less expensive than services like Lifelock and it stops the problem before it happens.

Several years ago, I was a victim of identity theft. Likely there were two sources. The first was used in IRS fraud - it was likely from a list of names and personal info that had been stolen. The IRS, fortunately, handled that one. The other one was more nettlesome. AT&T used to use social security numbers to verify identity. IMO, this led to a rash of credit cards (and store cards) being opened in my name. BUT, the credit freeze stopped that. Every time a credit card company tried to access my personal info, they ran into the freeze, and the fraudulent credit card application was rejected. This happened at least ten times over a two year period. The freeze saved me countless headaches.

The three major credit agencies are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. For more info, you might want to Google ‘how to place a credit freeze’ or go to a consumer oriented website like ‘clarkhoward.com’

Bottom line: everyone should have a credit freeze. And don’t forget your children and your elderly parents.

Rick

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by srick

Everyone - THE MOST effective means of preventing identity theft is to place a freeze on access to your credit reports. It’s fairly easy, but the three major credit reporting agencies don’t like making the process obvious.

A credit freeze prevents any one from accessing your credit history. It’s as simple as that. The only time that this information is necessary is when you are applying for new credit (ie. Car loan, mortgage, credit card) or have an ongoing relationship with a lender who requires access periodically (in my case, a business loan). At that time, the freeze can be temporarily lifted. ( This was recently the case for me as we are re-negotiating a mortgage - I specified that the freeze get lifted for ten days.)

Sometimes this ‘service’ is free (especially if you are a victim of identity theft) and sometimes there is a charge (usually $10 per agency). There may also be a charge to unfreeze the credit). It’s far less expensive than services like Lifelock and it stops the problem before it happens.

Several years ago, I was a victim of identity theft. Likely there were two sources. The first was used in IRS fraud - it was likely from a list of names and personal info that had been stolen. The IRS, fortunately, handled that one. The other one was more nettlesome. AT&T used to use social security numbers to verify identity. IMO, this led to a rash of credit cards (and store cards) being opened in my name. BUT, the credit freeze stopped that. Every time a credit card company tried to access my personal info, they ran into the freeze and the credit card application was rejected. This happened at least ten times over a two year period. The freeze saved me countless headaches.

The three major credit agencies are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. For more info, you might want to Google ‘how to place a credit freeze’ or go to a consumer oriented website like ‘clarkhoward.com’

Bottom line: everyone should have a credit freeze. And don’t forget your children and your elderly parents.

Rick

This.
There's now a 4th credit agency that is worth freezing with: Innovis, out of Pittsburgh. They offer the service free of charge.

As far as I'm concerned, the above advice became mandatory when Equifax got thoroughly hacked into. That was as careless as leaving the door open at Fort Knox.
So many millions of people, more than half the population in this country.
If you don't freeze your credit reports, check your records often, because all the doors are left unlocked.
Anthem, Yahoo, Equifax......to name just a few. That's a lot of data you would otherwise never reveal to anyone. And it's out there.
Scary stuff. Follow that good advice above.

[Basalt Beach]

Originally Posted by AndreF

This.

As far as I'm concerned, the above advice became mandatory when Experian got thoroughly hacked into. That was as careless as leaving the door open at Fort Knox.
So many millions of people, more than half the population in this country.
.

I believe it was Equifax not Experian, as I now have the free one year of monitoring they offered, however as Frank Abagnale (Catch me if you Can & FBI cyber crime specialist) discusses at the 37:30 mark in his talk at Google the one year of monitoring from Equifax is worthless (40:15 mark).

He explains the difference between hacked credit card numbers versus the personal information stolen in the Equifax breach. At the 41:15 mark he provides advice for those impacted by the Equifax breach. I have frozen my credit, $10 per agency, (the fee depends on the state you live in).

His entire Q&A talk at Google is a good listen and advice for individuals and it starts at the 37:30 mark.

[Gitfiddlemann]

I believe it was Equifax not Experian....

Indeed it was BB. That's the one I had meant to write. Thanks for correction!

[Steve-arino]

Thank you for the information guys. Looks like a credit freeze is a good move. Love it when others have more knowledge than me and are generous in sharing.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/article...it-freeze-faqs

[Steve-arino]

I just contacted each credit reporting agency and placed security freeze. Thank you again for giving me this information. If you'd like to do the same, here are the phone numbers for each agency. Automated and easy.

Equifax — 1-800-349-9960
Experian — 1‑888‑397‑3742
TransUnion — 1-888-909-8872

[tbeltrans]

One person here mentioned yet another credit reporting agency, Innovis. Here is a link to their page about freezing your credit report:

https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze

Good grief! How many of these places are out there making this information available until we discover them and get them to not give our information away? I thought there were only three, but now we find out that this isn't really true. So now, the question is how many are there, who are they, and how do we find out when yet another one pops up on the scene (well, three-in-one questions...)?


I froze my credit reporting with the three agencies most of us already know about as soon as I heard about the data breach.

Tony

[ManyMartinMan]

Don't give personal information (including credit card numbers or checking account numbers) to people you aren't familiar with and trust. Go through vetted/secure check out procedures and never give out this information over the phone where people are writing it down. Do business in person or with trusted vendors. If it is such a great deal and you have to call in or input information, rather than using secure check out where your information is already stored, - and you later wonder why you got hacked - then it's not a great deal.

I travel (am on tour here now) to Europe frequently and almost every bar, restaurant... brings the credit card processing machine to your table instead of taking your card out of sight where someone could write the information down. Much more secure. We've moved to chips and that helps a great deal but there are still those among us who purchase impetuously and dole out their information freely & then wonder why they've been hacked.. I was recently called by a political fund-raiser who I was more than willing to donate to but they didn't want to send out a donor card/envelope. They wanted the credit card information over the phone....... I declined. They did later send a donation envelope where I could place a check. Just don't give out any information unnecessarily.

[Steve-arino]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

One person here mentioned yet another credit reporting agency, Innovis. Here is a link to their page about freezing your credit report:

https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze

Good grief! How many of these places are out there making this information available until we discover them and get them to not give our information away? I thought there were only three, but now we find out that this isn't really true. So now, the question is how many are there, who are they, and how do we find out when yet another one pops up on the scene (well, three-in-one questions...)?


I froze my credit reporting with the three agencies most of us already know about as soon as I heard about the data breach.

Tony

And they all want social security numbers. Man. I've heard of the other 3, and I've maybe heard of Innovis but I'm going to do some research before I give them my information. Thanks Andre for providing that name as well as the clarkhoward.com site (looks good!).

Next business innovation is a consolidator of credit agencies available only by fingerprint recognition app on your smartphone....

[srick]

There are actually a lot more credit reporting agencies than those. But don’t think about it too much, it will give you a headache.

Also, consider checking out the websit creditkarma, which not only tells you your credit score, but will inform you when activity is reported to Experian or Transunion.

We can’t get into politics here, but protections for the little folks are sorely lacking.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Steve-arino

And they all want social security numbers. Man. I've heard of the other 3, and I've maybe heard of Innovis but I'm going to do some research before I give them my information. Thanks Andre for providing that name as well as the clarkhoward.com site (looks good!).

Next business innovation is a consolidator of credit agencies available only by fingerprint recognition app on your smartphone....

Agreed. I went to the Innovis site and as soon as I saw that they wanted my SSN, I balked and still have yet to apply. I never heard of them before, but have always heard of the Big Three, with whom I already froze my credit reporting.

The question I then have is whether the Big Three is enough, or are there all these smaller companies something we also have to contend with? Why isn't three enough for the industry? How many more are there?

This whole deal just seems ridiculous to me.

Tony

[srick]

So the official story from the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) can be found here: so-how-many-consumer-reporting-companies-are-there/.

But as I mentioned, it will give you a headache worrying about it. Here are the steps that I have taken and to be honest, am pretty comfortable with:

• Freeze your credit with the big three (or four);
• Set up alerts on your brokerage, bank and credit card accounts. Also, online accounts like Amazon and EBay.
• Set up two factor authentication on your accounts
• Use a service like creditkarma to let you know when someone is accessing your credit report.
• I do use a password manager with strong passwords, but the two factor is much better.

The incidence of identity theft fraud is decreasing because of awareness, chip cards and behind the scenes security work, but ultimately, it’s up to you to keep on top of it.

Best,

Rick

[srick]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

This whole deal just seems ridiculous to me.

Tony - I agree, it does sound ridiculous - until the day someone files for a tax refund in your name, or you get a letter that your Victoria’s Secret Account has been opened, or you receive a gift card for $250 from Verizon thanking you for becoming a new customer - all of which and more happened to me*.

At the very least, put a freeze on your credit access at the big three and you will be pretty well protected.

Best,

Rick

* the file is about two inches thick. Knock on wood, all has been quiet for the last year and a half... a lot of that I ascribe to the credit freezes. About six card applications (made in my name) were rejected because the card company could not access my credit report (because that info was frozen).