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Financial Fraud

These are the online resources I reference in my presentation, Recognizing and Preventing Financial Fraud.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Fraud

AI has the potential to make deceptions harder to detect. Fraudulent emails may be letter-perfect when it comes to grammar and spelling. Emails, messages, and phone calls may be much more customized to appeal to you, based on your personal interests. The Attorney General for the State of Michigan explains this well in a Consumer Alert.

Password Managers

Read reviews of password managers from Consumer Reports. If the site prompts you to log in and you do not have an online membership with Consumer Reports, you can access it through your library. Ask your library for instructions about how to access Consumer Reports.

Passkeys

Passkeys, including biometric ones such as facial recognition, may eventually replace passwords. It’s not available everywhere yet, but the New York Times has a good article about it.

Managing Your Credit Information

Freeze and unfreeze your credit history at each of the three major credit reporting agencies using the contact information below. Or, you can add a fraud alert. For fraud alerts, you only need to contact one of the credit reporting agencies; by law, they will share that request with the other two without any action on your part.

•Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services or 800-685-1111
•Experian.com/help or 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)
•TransUnion.com/credit-help or 888-909-8872

Request your free, annual credit report from each of those agencies by going to annualcreditreport.com/. Until December 31, 2023, you can check your credit reports weekly. The three organizations joined together to provide this service during the pandemic. Use the same website to request those, annualcreditreport.com/.

Review Your Files with Other Consumer Reporting Agencies

There are other organizations who collect data about consumers. You may also have the right to obtain reports about that information, dispute incorrect information, or to freeze them. For details, check the annually updated list from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Some of the companies you might be particularly interested in are:

  • ChexSystems
  • National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange
  • Medical Information Bureau

Report and Get Help

Go to IdentityTheft.gov to report what happened and receive guidance about how to deal with it. This is a largely automated system provided by the Federal Trade Commission. Even if you don’t want to provide any information, you can still benefit from the checklists at identitytheft.gov/Steps.

To get personalized guidance about everything from creating difficult passwords and avoiding scams to safe web browsing and preventing ID theft, tell the Consumer Reports Security Planner what electronic devices you use, what your main concerns are, and what issues you may be facing. You do not need to be a member to access the service.

Consumer Reports produced a complete guide to scam and fraud protection that discusses many of the newest scams as of July, 2023. Not only does it explain them, it gives steps you should take if you engaged with the scammer (opened the email, spoke with them on the phone, etc.) and if you were actually scammed.