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Even the residents of beautiful northern Wisconsin are increasingly coming into contact with various financial frauds and scams.
- NEVER provide any personal information in response to an inquiry that is not originated by you.
- This information includes social security numbers, account numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, user names, etc.
- Inquiries for this type of information might come via a phone call, fax, letter, or email.
- Inquiries may very well appear to be from a legitimate source, even using official logos, but no financial institution, business, or government agency will request that you “confirm” personal information; they already have that information if they’ve done business with you before.
- Watch out for tactics including, “There’s been a security breach, so we need you to reconfirm your information,” or “We’ve had a system failure so please provide your information again,” or other similar tactics.
- Don’t be pressured into taking action “immediately” to avoid missing out on what appears to be a great deal or to avoid various dire consequences like having your account “closed” or “voided.”
- Using a telephone number or web address that you know to be genuine, contact us or any other business or government agency that you deal with if you become suspicious of an inquiry allegedly coming from us or from them.
- If you have responded to a fraudulent communication and divulged personal information, contact us immediately so that we can take steps to protect your accounts.
- Monitor your bank and credit card statements for irregularities. Report them if you find them.
- Monitor your credit report at least annually.
- Resources
- Credit Bureaus (for requesting credit reports and reporting fraud)
- Equifax 1.800.525.6285
- Experian 1.888.397.3742
- Transunion 1.800.680.7289
- Federal Trade Commission (excellent resource on “identity theft”)
- U.S. Department of Justice www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html
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