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@FBIPortland
Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. This week, building a digital defense against ID theft.
Fraudsters have been trying to steal your identity and personally identifiable information – or PII – for many years. But, the growing number of data breaches at retailers, financial institutions and credit agencies mean that you are more at risk than ever.
Once a criminal organization gets a hold of your name, Social Security number, date of birth, health insurance info, and more – it will likely sell every bit of it on the dark web. Once that happens, the buyer can open credit card or bank accounts, apply for loans, or commit any number of crimes in your name.
You as an average consumer can’t do much about the massive data breaches – but you can take some basic steps to protect your financial future:
Next week we will look how your credit report plays into ID theft protection – and how you can make sure you are using it as part of your digital defense.
If you have been victimized by an online scam or any other cyber fraud, be sure to report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your local FBI office.