Five WaysTo Fight Back AgainstIdentity Fraud (NAPSA)—If you've been a vic- tim of identity fraud lately, you're not Fraud Victims and Losses Continue Three-Year Rise alone. Nearly 17 million other Amer- icans were, too, according to the 2018 annualIdentity Fraud Studyreleased by Javelin Strategy & Research, a research- based advisory firm that helpsits cli- ents to make better-informed business decisions in a digital financial world. In 2017, fraudstersstole $16.8 billion in the JAVELIN US.alone, the Javelin study found. Identity fraudis defined as the unau- thorizeduseofanotherperson’s personal informationto achieveillicit financial gain. It can range from simply using a stolen paymentcard account,to makinga frauduJent purchase, totakingcontrolofexisting accounts or opening new accounts. Identity fraud is up but you don’t have to let it get you—or your finances—down. 3. Place a security freeze—If you're ‘Thestudyidentified four significant trends: not planning on opening new accounts in the nearfuture,a freeze on your credit report can prevent anyone else from 6.64 percent of consumers becamevic- importantif a data breach has exposed Record high incidence—In 2017, timsofidentity fraud. + Total account takeover losses reached $5.1 billion. Account takeover continues to be one of the most chal- lenging fraud types for consumers, with victims paying an average of $290 in out-of-pocket costs and spending 16 hours on averageto resolve. + Online shopping presents the greatest fraud opportunity. Card-notpresent fraud is now 81 percent more likely than point-of-sale fraud. + Fraudsters are getting more sophis- ticated. One anda half million victims of existing accountfraud hadan intermediary accountopenedin their namefirst. Five Safety Tips To Protect Your Identity Fortunately, you can protect yourself. Here are sometips on how: 1. Turn on two-factorauthentication wherever possible—Enabling two-factor authentication, where a separate action must be taken beyond providing a user name and password to access an account, can make it significantly more difficult forfraudsters to take over your accounts. ‘Also,use strong passwordsor a password manager to secure accounts. 2.Secure your devices—Crimi- nals have shifted their focus to digital devices for the access they can provide to accounts and the information they opening one in your name—especially sensitive, personally identifiable infor- mation. Credit freezes must be placed with all three credit bureaus and prevent everyone except existing creditors and certain government agencies from accessing your credit report. Should you needto open an accountrequiring a credit check, the freeze can belifted through the credit bureaus. 4.Sign up for account alerts— Many financial service providers, including depositoryinstitutions, credit card issuers and brokerages, as well as e-mail and social media providers, offer the option to getnotifications of suspiciousactivity. Someevenlet you specify the scenarios under which you wantto benotified, to reducefalse alarms. 5. Protect yourself from unautho- rized online transactions—Embed- dedchips makefraud at physical stores more challenging, so fraudsters target online merchants. Somefinancialinsti- tutions offer alerts for online transactions, the ability to institute limits on online transactions, or even advanced controls through 3-D Secure (for exam- ple, Verified by Visa, SecureCode from Mastercard,and others). These can help quickly detect and even preventonline fraud from occurring. Learn More Jock, encryptdata stored on the devices, Forotherwaysto protectyourself, visit wwwidentityguard.com/news-insights. To report incidents ofsuspectedfraudor identity install anti-malware. consumer-protection/report-identity-theft. store or transmit. Institute a screen avoid public Wi-Fi, use a VPN, and theft, visit the FTC at www.ftc.gov/faq/
