Identity Theft & Fraud: Be Proactive - How to Detect Suspicious Activity

If your wallet is stolen, you would immediately know that you could potentially be the victim of fraud or identity theft, and would take preventative measures right away. But with other types of fraud, victims often go weeks or months before even finding out that they've been victimized.

By routinely monitoring your financial information, you can potentially catch fraudulent activity quickly. The following are a few tips for staying on top of your personal information:

Monitor your credit card and banking transactions online every day. Financial institutions that offer online account access often provide you the ability to view your banking transactions online throughout your billing cycle. With this type of online access, you could log into your bank or credit card account and view all account activity for the day, alerting you to suspicious activity immediately. Our Web Banking system acts in real-time, so as soon as you make a purchase with your debit card, for example, you can view the charge that was made online through Web Banking.

Monitor your credit report through the three major reporting bureaus regularly. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) allows for all consumers to receive a free copy of their credit report from each of the three credit reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) every 12 months. At the very least, you should take advantage of this offer and review your credit report annually. For your free annual copies visit annualcreditreport.com. You can take additional measures by signing up for credit monitoring services. These services charge a monthly fee and provide you with alerts if activity is posted to your credit report. There are numerous monitoring services which offer different levels of protection. We are now offering ID SafeChoice Plus, a credit monitoring and fraud insurance program to help protect against identity theft.