LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – This week is Identity Theft Awareness Week. Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, is giving tips on how to keep your information protected from potential scammers.
The AG’s office said that data breaches are one of the most common ways your information can get leaked. To catch any breaches early, keep an eye on your bank accounts using their apps or websites to catch any suspicious charges. Nessel says changing your passwords regularly and making sure they are complex can also help keep your information safe.
With the holidays passed, and tax season just beginning, it’s the peak time of year for scammers and data leaks that can compromise your personal information.
“We really think that oftentimes the best thing we can do is just to educate consumers to make sure that they never fall victim in the first place,” Nessel said. “What’s important is that we look at identity theft not as something that you know may happen to you, but to plan for when it does happen to you and to make sure that people are taking every sort of proactive effort they can to prevent themselves from falling victim.”
Dr. Tom Holt, a Criminal Justice Professor at Michigan State University said one of the best things that you can do is manage your identity to the best of your ability to start with.
“The big problem with identity theft is there are so many ways in which the information can be acquired that you almost have to have a road map of what do I do in this case, or this case, or this case.” Dr. Hold said. “Ignore those requests that you can vet and understand ‘OK, this is false’ because then you’re just going to reduce your risk exponentially by trying to avoid engaging with scammers and spammers and things like that.”
Dr. Holt said that when it comes to data breaches, everything from your name, email, phone number, and even your credit card information, can be at risk, and often the leaks aren’t discovered until it’s too late..
The number of scam phone calls, emails, and text messages is also on the rise. The Attorney General’s Office gave warnings to never hand out personal information without double checking the identity of the person contacting you.
“Lots of times, those people will try to keep you on the phone and they’ll make it some sort of emergency where you have to keep on talking to them. don’t allow that to happen.” Nessel said. “Say ‘Sorry, I’m going to need to call you back.’ Hang up, call that person back, and make sure it’s really them.”
If you ever do become the victim of a scam, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Nessel said to reach out to your bank, or the Attorney General’s Office for help with the next steps.
The Michigan Identity Theft Support System is here to help. MITSS has case workers who will walk you through the next steps to recovering from identity theft. You can contact MITSS at 517-335-7599 or online at www.michigan.gov/ag/initiatives/michigan-identity-theft-support
