How to Not Commit Identity Fraud

What are the pieces of information that someone needs to steal your identity? As someone who has opened over 40 bank and credit card accounts (in my own name) and has had hundreds of calls with customer service representative - I have essentially memorized my personal. Through this process I’ve also come to realize how easy the process of identity fraud actually is. This post is meant to inform you of what those factors are and how to protect yourself.

What is actually needed to open a bank or credit account?

• First Name - Easy to obtain [Verified over soft credit inquiry]
• Middle Name - Not required in most cases
• Last Name - Easy to obtain [Verified over soft credit inquiry]
• Primary Address - Easy to obtain [Verified over soft credit inquiry]
• Phone Number - Easy to obtain (doesn’t even have to be your phone number)
• Email Address - Easy to obtain (doesn’t even have to be your phone email)
• Date of Birth - Medium to obtain [Verified over soft credit inquiry]
• Driver’s License or Proof of Citizenship - Hard to obtain [Verified through third party]
• Social Security Number - Hard to obtain [Verified over soft credit inquiry]

The main factors you need to protect are your driver’s license number, social, security and date of birth. Everything is reality easy to find, lookup, or fake in most cases

How to protect yourself?

1. Bank security measures

• Soft credit inquiry - used to prevent surface level attack of information mismatch
• Over the phone calls - mostly redundant unless voice identity verification or a phone code is used
• Over email - nonexistent
• During Signup - Highly effect, these are questions that ask tangential information such as “which address had your grandmother been associated with”
• 2-Facor-Authenication verification - Highly effective

2. FREEZE YOUR REPORTING ACCOUNTS - this is the end all be all of an account being opened or not

• https://www.chexsystems.com/security-freeze/place-freeze (Bank account creation)
• https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/ (Credit card creation)
• https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html (Credit card creation)
• https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze (Credit card creation)

Any other finance advise mystery man on the internet?

• Get a financial advisor
• Or define your financial goals (such as Ramit Sethi)