Identity theft incidents happen often enough there is now a week dedicated to promote protecting identities.
This week is National Protect Your Identity Week. It runs from Oct. 20 to Oct. 26.
Farmers Trust Savings Bank’s branch in Buffalo Center believes the week is important enough to issue a news release with tips on how to protect your identity.
“You hear a lot of things that happen,” bank president Brian Vander Wilt said in an interview with the News Tribune. “It’s not just from our customers but from people in different places, different stories.”
The bank, with offices in Britt, Lake Mills, Lakota and Bricelyn, Minn., has safeguards within its system to protect the identity of customers, he said.
“We have security to prevent hacking,” Vander Wilt said.
Brian Blodgett of New Generations Technology, the bank’s information technology director, said banks have a series of policies and procedures to help prevent identity theft and theft on accounts.
Procedures include regular audits and inspections by bank examiners, Blodgett said.
The bank offers a checking account called Bonus Club Checking that includes LifeLock Identity Theft Protection. Lifelock is a security system that helps protect customers against credit card fraud, identity theft and notifies the customer when personal information is being used.
Vander Wilt said the bank also has an alert system tied to Shazaam, the automatic teller system provider. The bank gets alerted if there is unusual use of customer’s debit card, he said.
“We pay for those alert systems,” Vander Wilt said.
The bank also gets notifications when a retail store’s computer system is compromised, Vander Wilt said.
The bank must then contact customers who have shopped at the store and then, get those customers new debit cards, Vander Wilt said.
“We get those on a regular basis,” Vander Wilt said.
Customers can also get alerted if they have debit or credit plans that notify them of unusual amounts of spending or spending in locations that are not typical for that customer, Vander Wilt said.
Although banks have identity and theft protection in place, customers can adopt practices to further protect themselves, Vander Wilt and Blodgett said.
Vander Wilt’s advice for protecting identity on bank accounts:
People should shred or tear up account statements and other personal information.
They should watch for missing mail, particularly when account statements and bills are due.
People should review monthly statements to check for any unauthorized charges.
People should protect personal identification numbers and passwords. Use a combination of letters and numbers for passwords and change them periodically.
Many bank customers use online banking and Farmers Trust requires two sets of usernames and passwords to access accounts online, Vander Wilt said.
“We require our online banking account holders to change their passwords quarterly,” Vander Wilt said. “We are doing that for their own protection.”
Blodgett offered some advice for situations involving the phone, email, mail and general Internet use.
“As far as identify theft, this is for across the board, ask yourself ‘do I really know who I am talking to,'” Blodgett said.
Never offer any personal information unless you know for certain of the person or company to whom you are speaking, Blodgett said.
Blodgett said he follows his own recommended rule. And if he’s asked for personal information through a phone call, email or some other contact, he always asks if he can call them back or contact them.
People who use computers regularly should also use anti-virus and anti-spyware, he said.
Those who attempt to steal identities or steal money will use an email asking for personal or account information and provide links to fake websites, Blodgett said. Those emails will often say they are notifying the recipient of a problem with the account, Blodgett said.
Recipients should not respond to those types of emails and should contact their bank or the company that has their credit card instead to learn if there is a problem, Blodgett said.
If someone suspects fraud or knows they’ve been deceived, they should contact their bank or appropriate agency, Blodgett and Vander Wilt said.
Blodgett said sometimes people are embarrassed to be victims of identification them or potential theft. “They shouldn’t be,” he said. “Don’t be embarrassed, ask for help.”