Many people assume that they are immune to this potential threat because they are careful with their information or they assume that they will be made aware in some way if their identity is stolen, but this isn’t always the case.

In fact, a 2018 Identity Fraud Study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research found that one million minors had fallen victim to identity theft over the past year with 66% of those million being under the age of seven. If hundreds of thousands of children under the age of seven doesn’t serve as a great example that anybody can fall victim to identity theft, then we don’t know what does. These thieves would then load up the minor’s identity with huge amounts of credit card debt which can cause serious issues for the child as they enter adult life.

The 2018 study warned, “fraudsters are getting more sophisticated in their attacks using stealthier and more complex schemes”. They don’t expect the identity fraud crisis to go away anytime soon either. In fact, they said they expected this epidemic to continue to grow with 1.3 million more victims in the U.S. this upcoming year. That’s hard to wrap our minds around considering there were already 16.7 million victims in 2017.

Those statistics average out to be around 1 in 15 Americans or a new victim every 2 seconds. If only the chances of winning the lottery were that high… This problem doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. And with your likelihood of being a victim only increasing, we strongly recommend that you verify your identity is safe. Sixteen percent of victims don’t find out that their identity has been stolen for three years!! That’s a lot of time for these thieves to cause you some serious pain and problems.

We want to help you keep you, your children & your families’ identities safe! There are a couple things that we think you should be doing in order to protect your information and limit your chances of becoming a victim:

1. Limit how much information you share. Sharing information online can be dangerous. Limit how much you share or make sure your accounts are private!
2. Strengthen your passwords. Add numbers and symbols to your passwords and make sure they’re not something that can be easily guessed.
3. Monitor your financial statements and bank account often. Set up alerts with your bank to make sure you’re made aware of any unusual activity.
4. Be wary of unsolicited emails. Don’t click on links in any emails that you don’t trust or where you don’t recognize the sender.
5. Regularly perform a SSN trace or identity theft check. Performing this check regularly will help you verify that your identity hasn’t been used for anything without your knowledge.

Blueline Services offers a full identity theft check that pulls from over 300 different data sources (both public and private) for a one-time fee of only $7.95 with no added costs or subscription requirements.

If you’re interested in running a check to make sure your identity is safe, check out our secure theft check with the link below:

Check Your Identity Now

The post Are You A Victim Of Identity Theft? Check Your Identity Now appeared first on Blueline.

Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself:

1) Check Your Accounts: A former Wells Fargo manager, Maged Nashid, recently said in an interview to look for suspicious withdrawals ranging from $25 to $100. AKA the amount needed to open a Wells Fargo checking or savings account.

Clients often barely notice these small charges or don’t want to go through the hassle of filling out forms to get their money back. But these small charges could mean a lot more than simply $25 lost.

2) Ask for a Social Security Inquiry from your Bank: Banks can run a check through their systems based on your name or social security information to help you locate any accounts with your information.

3) Be Wary of Questionable Mail: Mike Feuer, a Los Angeles City Attorney who has filed a civil complaint against Wells Fargo, also opened up in interviews about his thoughts concerning this scam.

He said people should be cautious about credit or debit cards arriving to their home for accounts they have not opened. Any suspicious mail from your bank should be looked into. Don’t just toss it aside!

4) Set Up ACH Filters or Positive Pay: ACH or electronic fund transfers are a common method used by scammers to steal money from bank accounts. Often all that is needed to steal funds in this manner is an account and bank routing number.

However, you can set up ACH protections. These can require such transfers to be pre-authorized or reviewed before being completed and will help protect you. Talk to your bank about setting up these filters and protections.

What’s happening with Wells Fargo now?

Along with firing 5,300 employees who were involved in the scandal, Wells Fargo has made it known that they are trying to switch from a focus on sales quotas to good customer service in order to help rectify this problem. The bank announced that they are going to stop their sales goals altogether beginning January 1st.

L.A. attorney, Feuer, stated that Wells has a long way to go to help fix this problem.

“Clearly the necessity to fire 5,300 employees shows that there is something that needs to change with Wells internal oversight and with its practices generally,” Feuer said in an interview.

Wells Fargo wasn’t just dealing with one #EmployeeFromHell but a whole lot of problems going on inside.

The post Wells Fargo Scam: How To Protect Yourself From Fraud appeared first on Blueline.