Military life is full of risk, from training with live weapons and the dangers of combat to the sometimes questionable content of MREs. But there’s one threat that military members might not have considered and that’s identify theft.
According to a study by the Federal Trade Commission, active-duty service members face higher identity theft risks. They’re 22% more likely to report that their stolen information was misused to open a new account, especially a new credit card account. They’re 76% more likely to report that an identity thief misused an existing account such as a bank account or credit card and nearly three times more likely to report that someone used a debit card or other electronic means to take money directly from their bank account.
Let’s review some identity theft risks and steps military members can take to reduce that risk.
Why are military members more likely to be a target of identity theft?
Many military members join when they’re young, and they don’t have a ton of experience with financial products and how to protect themselves. They might not understand the benefit of multifactor authentication and may not have the life experience to recognize if something is a scam. I’ll be honest in saying that if I were presented with some of the modern-day sophisticated scams when I was younger, I probably would’ve fallen victim to them.
Also, military members travel frequently, creating an opportunity for identify thieves. When you’re travelling, you’re less likely to check your accounts or notice fraudulent activity. But keep in mind that you can still be exposed to risk at home.
Deployment poses another risk, as service members often must rely on others to help them manage their finances while they’re away. It might seem like a no-brainer to turn to family and friends while you’re deployed, but I’m always sad when I hear that a military member—or anyone, for that matter—has been taken advantage of by someone they thought they could trust.
Let’s be clear, I’ve heard more good stories about loved ones who have helped during a deployment or temporary duty assignment than bad ones, but the bad stories do exist so it’s important to take precautions.
How to recognize identity theft
You can’t totally avoid all identity fraud risks. But you can be smart about protecting your information and then act if something doesn’t look correct.
One way to protect yourself is by partnering with a financial institution that has a great cybersecurity team and cybersecurity protocols. At USAA, securing your personal information is one of our top priorities. Learn more about how USAA protects your accounts and personal information.
It’s also important to monitor your account yourself for suspicious activity—and to be aware of what identity theft can look like.
Maybe you get an approval for a credit card you didn’t apply for. Or, what if you receive a bill for a property in another state that you don’t live in? That happened to a friend of mine and his only clue was a notice from the tax office stating that he owed them property taxes. Come to find out, he had been a victim of identity theft and someone used his name to purchase a property in another state.
Smart identity theft protection actions
There are some practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. Remember that the bad people are working hard to take your information, so you need to work just as hard to protect it.
Cybersecurity practices
USAA suggests using smart cybersecurity protection practices like two-factor authentication and strong password management.
I honestly didn’t like two-factor authentication at one time because the extra step felt like a hassle. Then I received a notice via email of a pending transfer of $1,000 from one of my accounts and guess what, I didn’t authorize it. I was able to stop it and discovered that someone from South America had accessed my account with my password. I quickly enabled two-factor authentication and never looked back. So, I’m a believer.
Another safety tool is smart password management. Don’t use one password for all your accounts. If hackers crack one, they have them all. This also means that easy-to-guess passwords are not good ideas. PaSSword1234 or 1234512345 are not really good passwords. Please take no offense if these are your passwords, just change them.
It’s also important to practice smart digital citizenship. Don’t click on links in emails you don’t recognize, it could be phishing. Some of these scam emails look very authentic but check the sender as the email address can be a key indicator if it’s legit. Plus, if it’s a link to a document or notification from an institution you work with, you can just log into your account and find the document or notification there. If in doubt, just call and ask if they sent it or not.
Active-duty alerts
You can place an active-duty alert on your credit report, which lasts for one year and is helpful while you’re deployed. You can renew the alert every year at no cost. The goal of the alert is to make it harder for someone to open an account because it identifies you as a military member and encourages lenders to take extra steps to verify your identity. You only need to request this alert from one credit bureau and they will notify the other two.
Credit Freeze
You can also place a freeze on your credit, which means no new credit can be opened in your name. If you need to open an account, you’ll need to unfreeze your credit to allow lenders access.
Unlike fraud alerts, you must request a freeze separately at each of the three credit bureaus and go to each separately to lift the freeze.
Keep in mind that there are exceptions to a credit freeze. These include requests for your credit report from employers, landlords, or businesses that you have a relationship with.
It’s also important to know that freezing your credit won’t prevent someone from stealing your identity. They could still hack into a computer system, go through your trash, or get your information in other ways. Identity thieves don’t only use your stolen information to apply for credit, so it’s important to stay alert and diligent for other signs that your identity is being misused.
Security at home
Buy a shredder so you can destroy any personal documents, statements, or credit card offers you receive in the mail. These can be a treasure trove of information for identity thieves. While one document might not give everything they need, they can piece enough information from several documents to do some damage.
Monitor your credit
Finally, review your credit report annually from all three major bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You might see something on there that doesn’t look right so you can address it. In fact, law provides free credit monitoring for military members. You can sign up for credit monitoring at the different bureaus at the links below:
- Equifax active-duty credit monitoringOpens in a New Window See note 1
- Experian IDnotify's Active Military AccountOpens in a New Window See note 1
- TransUnion active-duty credit monitoringOpens in a New Window See note 1
It’s important to realize that sometimes, there’s nothing you can do to protect yourself, such as in the case of data breaches. But there are still things you can do to limit the damage.
How to limit the impact of or recover from identity theft
Now, for this section, I needed to give credit where credit is due. When I have credit questions, I turn to the expert. In this case, the expert is my friend, Rod Griffin, Senior Director of Public Education and Advocacy for Experian. I asked Rod what steps someone should take if they experience identity theft. Here’s what he said.
Call your financial institutions
The first action is to stop the negative impacts from continuing by calling your financial institution to let them know. This could lead them to freezing accounts so money hopefully stops being transferred out, issuing new account information, providing extra layers of security verification, and investigating to hopefully help you recover some money.
Add an initial security alert with one of the bureaus and they’ll notify the others. It’s basically saying “I may be a victim.” You can also add a seven-year fraud victim alert, which helps provide protections for years to come.
Police
If you know that you’ve been a victim, you should file a police report. You’ll need the report to have a fraud victim statement added to your credit report. Lenders may also request the police report as part of their process to remove fraudulent accounts.
Credit Freeze
Before adding a credit freeze be sure you understand the benefits and limitations of doing so. A credit freeze will prevent someone using your identity to apply for new credit, but it’s important to note that not all identity crimes involve pulling your credit report, so the freeze wouldn’t help protect you there.
If you’re actively seeking credit, a freeze might prove to be more of a nuisance than a help. But if you have ongoing fraud issues, a freeze could be a very helpful tool. It just depends on your personal situation.
Change passwords
If you experience identity theft, it’s a great time to change your passwords. This is very important if it’s a password that has been hacked and is what caused the situation. Also, don’t only consider the password for the hacked account. Consider other accounts that might have the same or similar password as well. This goes back to good password security practices of not using the same or similar password everywhere.
One of the best actions is to report identity theft and create a personalized recovery plan at identitytheft.gov.Opens in a New Window See note 1
Take extra steps to stay safe.
For assistance on how to stay safe and to learn how to report fraud, visit the USAA Security Center.