Types of identity theft

0:00- So let's talk a little bit about identity theft, which is really someone stealing your identity to do something that somehow takes advantage of it, and it usually is going to hurt you, maybe even hurt other people. So in other videos, we've talked about how you want to protect your PII, your personally identifiable information.

0:17Things like social security numbers, your address, even some of those things like your first pet or where you met your partner the first time and things like that, because you might see those as being your security questions, et cetera, et cetera. And if someone gets some subset of that, they might be able to fake who you are, doing financial transactions, medical transactions, they might even be able to commit crimes in your name, or they might represent you on social media and do all sorts of horrible things that you would not want your name attached to.

0:48So that first situation where they're using your PII, they're using your information to open up a credit card or to get your tax deduction, file taxes in your name, and then they get, not the deduction, the refund that should be going to you or it could be not even what should be going to you.

1:06They might completely have fraudulent taxes. They might take out loans in your name. They might be able to somehow use your bank account to make transfers. So you do not want that to happen. And the best way to keep track of whether, well, be careful on your PII, on your personally identifiable information, but also review your credit card statements, review your bank statements on a regular basis to make sure that there aren't any shady transactions.

1:32And as soon as you see those things, follow up, make sure that those aren't yours, but also maybe call up the banks or the credit cards to see what's going on. And when you're not sure and something's happening, you might want to just freeze things, but maybe also stop it from happening.

1:49Medical identity theft is exactly that. You might have noticed sometimes when you go to the doctor, they ask to see your ID because someone might say, "Oh, I'm Sal," but they're using my insurance plan to get healthcare or to get prescriptions under my name. And that obviously is not right, but it also can mess up your health records if folks see that.

2:12And so once again, the warning sign is if you see bills or you see any kind of information or transactions, lab tests that aren't yours, you might be a victim of medical identity theft. Now, criminal identity theft is someone actually committing a crime and for whatever reason, maybe somehow your license plate, they fake it, or somehow your ID or something else, and now the authorities are going after you.

2:40So if you see a court notice or things like that, yes, and you had nothing to do with it, that might be criminal identity theft. And then last but not least, social media identity theft. One, social media is one way that people can get some of this information to do all of the other forms of identity theft, but it also could be someone pretends to be you.

3:02Maybe they are able to figure out your password, log in as you, maybe you stayed logged in on your phone or a computer at a cafe, went to the restroom, and someone goes there and starts posting your in your name. One, it could just be really bad for your reputation or they might, I don't know, these people are creative, do other horrible things.

3:20So big picture. Just keep track of these accounts if you're using them. And if you see something shady, do something about it. Don't just assume the status quo, but as always, just be careful.