Back in October of 2014, hackers accessed the personal information of over 83 million JP Morgan Chase customers. Fortunately, the hackers weren’t able to access financial information or gain access to client accounts. However, they were able to obtain other important data such as names, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses of any current or past customer who logged into Chase.com, JPMorganOnline, Chase Mobile or JPMorgan Mobile.1 This unprecedented cyber-attack on a major American financial company has raised questions about the state of security in the financial services industry since.

Many of us can say we know or have heard at least one person who has become a victim of financial identity theft because it can happen to anyone. As a matter of fact, studies revealed 16.7 million became victims of identity fraud in 2017 or about 1 in 15 people.² Fortunately, there are many ways that you can protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. While many of these are common sense, they’re worth the reminder to pass along to your loved ones:

1. Be wary of emails or social media messages asking you to log into a financial account. Your bank, mortgage company, investment account, or the IRS will never request personal information by email. Never click on links embedded in those emails; instead, always log into your accounts by manually typing the web address into your browser.
2. Never give out personal information in response to a phone call from someone claiming to represent the IRS or a financial institution. If you get a suspicious phone call, hang up and call the organization directly for more information.
3. Protect your sensitive information by collecting mail promptly and shredding documents containing account numbers, credit card numbers, or your Social Security number.
4. Never use the same PIN or password for multiple accounts or websites. Doing so increases the risk that a single attack could compromise your identity or result in fraud.
5. Monitor your financial and credit card statements carefully to identify suspicious activity. If you find fraudulent transactions, report them to the relevant institution immediately to reduce your financial liability.
6. Check your credit report each year at each of the three reporting agencies. You can check your report for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. If you find fraudulent accounts or activity that you don’t recognize, immediately file a report with all three agencies and place a security freeze on your account to prevent more accounts from being opened.

As your dedicated team, we take security very seriously and are committed to protecting our clients’ personal information in the following ways:

 

• We partner with major financial institutions that use industry-recommended encryption to protect your data;
• We never share any personal or financial information without your explicit knowledge and consent;
• We regularly participate in audits of our internal procedures to help ensure that we are always following industry best practices;
• We regularly update our knowledge and attend specialized training about security.

 

Footnotes, disclosures, and sources:

Securities offered through SCF Securities,Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC 155 E. Shaw Ave. Suite 102, Fresno, CA 93710 • (800) 955-2517 •Fax (559) 456- 6109. SCF Securities, Inc. and Creative Financial Strategies LLC are independently owned and operated. www.scfsecurities.com Note: Securities offered through SCF Securities Inc., Investment Advisory Services offered through SCF Investment Advisors, Inc. This document is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. One should consult a legal or tax professional regarding their own personal situation. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products offered by an insurance company. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company. Variable annuities are considered securities products and require one to have proper FINRA registrations, in addition to proper state insurance licensing, prior to selling or discussing such products.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/04/your-money/jpmorgan-chase-hack-ways-to-protect-yourself.html

[2] https://www.identityforce.com/blog/identity-theft-odds-identity-theft-statistics