Americans are spending more time online and, unfortunately, so are criminals.
While the FBI reports many crimes (property crimes, burglary, and larceny-theft) have decreased over the last several years, rates of identity theft are increasing, up 16% in 2016 over the previous year, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.
While identity theft is not as scary as violent crimes in the physical world, it's still a very serious, invasive and highly disturbing kind of crime—in part because identity theft is a crime that almost always goes undetected until well after the fact.
Consider this scenario, familiar to many Americans: you're at work and expecting a call from a handyman about the appointment the next day. You don't recognize the number when your phone rings, but you answer, thinking it must be the handyman. Instead, it's a bill collector asking you to make a payment on a loan. The bill collector has your name, phone number, address and even knows your social security number.
The problem is that you didn't take out the loan. This likely means that someone else applied for and secured the loan using your PII, such as your name, address and social security number. This is called new account fraud, and the Javelin report referenced above found that new account fraud more than doubled (up 113%) from 2014 to 2015. They called it "the most expensive and highest-impact" fraud for consumers.
How fast can identity thieves use stolen data?
An experiment in 2017 by the FTC showed that enterprising criminals can use this information within minutes: the FTC developed fake PII and posted the data on a website that hackers and others use to make stolen credentials public. It took only nine minutes for the fraudsters to try to access the information, and more than 1,200 attempts were made to access the email, payment and credit card accounts. The research shows that personal information is valuable to identity thieves, and if they can get access to it, they will use it.
If your PII is compromised
If you detect signs that your PII has been compromised and/or identity theft has occurred, you can take action to remedy the situation. Follow the checklist below to help you stay organized; this may help alleviate the feeling of uncertainty.
- Immediately alert, the holder of the fraudulent debt or the company involved in the identity theft.
- Alert your bank.
- Report it to the credit bureaus and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit file. If you contact Experian, they will share the alert with the other bureaus.
- If you know your PII has been compromised, you may want to consider locking or freezing your credit report.
- Check your bank and credit card statements for charges you don't recognize.
- Contact law enforcement and ask about filing a police report.
- Sign up for your bank's free online alerts to help detect any fraudulent activity.
Your personally identifiable information is valuable to you, but it doesn't have to benefit identity thieves. Take steps to protect your PII, detect fraud quickly and remedy the situation if identity theft happens to you.
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer or other company, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. All information, including rates and fees, are accurate as of the date of publication.
This article was originally published on September 1, 2017, and has been updated.