Fight fraud before it happens.

Identity theft protection: Be prepared. Stay alert. Take timely action.

There’s an old saying: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When it comes to protecting your identity and personal information, it’s true.

Fraudsters continue to get more advanced. It’s tricky for even the most well informed. And no one is immune. But there are steps you can take. Staying ahead of fraudsters means being prepared, remaining alert and taking timely action when threats arise.

Be prepared.

Part of what makes identity theft so difficult to combat is that it can occur with few readily available hints or scam alerts. By the time that fraud is noticed by the unprepared, it’s often difficult and expensive to correct. But there are some actions that you can take to help protect your information and detect abnormalities as they arise.

1. Regularly review your credit reports. Federal law allows you to get a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from the three largest U.S. credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You can get started online by visiting annualcreditreport.com. Be careful as you type that address into your web browser. There are several similarly named websites that have been set up by fraudsters to lure unsuspecting visitors.
2. Consider a credit freeze with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. This is a free service that places a hold on your credit file that will prevent prospective creditors from accessing your information. It won’t affect your credit score in any way. But you will need to temporarily lift the freeze in order to open any new credit accounts (such as a credit card, mortgage or line of credit).
3. Enlist a credit monitoring service, such as Commerce ID Recover¹ or Commerce ID Monitor¹, to help you keep an eye on your credit activity. Check this information regularly and/or set up automatic alerts; this may help you detect fraudulent activity early by identifying information that looks out of place.
4. Protect sensitive information by using a virtual private network (VPN), such as the one offered through Commerce ID Monitor¹.
5. Create unique, complex passwords, and don’t use them for more than one site.
6. Use cybersecurity and fraud prevention tools like antivirus software, multi-factor authentication, and encrypted communication tools.

Remain alert.

Staying diligent is an important part of staying ahead of the scammers. Whether online or in person, here are a few precautions you can take to help keep fraudsters at bay:

1. Update your online account passwords regularly. Create hard-to-guess passwords that don’t contain any personal information that scammers can access through public information. Use a password manager to track and regularly update your passwords, such as the one available through Commerce ID Recover and Commerce ID Monitor². And, don’t use your password manager password for any other online accounts.
2. Update your software on digital devices regularly.
3. Store documents and electronic records with sensitive information in an encrypted place, such as Online Identity Vault³ (available through Commerce ID Recover¹ and Commerce ID Monitor¹.) Shred documents with sensitive data before discarding. Wipe data from old computers, cellphones or tablets before disposal.
4. Be very selective about who can access your personal data. Ask what sensitive information is needed and why. Then, don’t give out more information than is necessary.

Take timely action. Report fraud.

If you do detect something that looks out of place on your credit report or if you receive notice that your information has been compromised:

1. Visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) IdentityTheft.gov site to report identity theft and get a recovery plan.
2. File a police report. If you’ve obtained an ID Theft Complaint reference number from the FTC, ask the officer to include that information in the report.
3. Consider setting a Fraud Alert with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. This free service will place a “red flag” on your credit account that alerts creditors that you may have been a victim of fraud and/or identity theft. This will prompt creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before extending future credit.
4. Notify your card issuer, financial institution and/or the Social Security Administration (if your Social Security number has been compromised). You can report a lost or stolen Commerce Bank card through our Security Center.
5. Change your online passwords using your password manager.
6. If you have automatic payments related to a compromised card, bank account or website, be sure to update the payment information with your new card, account or password.

By being prepared, staying alert and taking timely action when threats arise, you’ll be able to spend your time doing the things that matter most to you while protecting yourself from fraudsters.

Explore more articles:

• How to protect kids from ID theft and social media fraud.
• Tips and red flags for avoiding elder fraud.

Disclosures:

1. To be eligible for Commerce ID Recover and Commerce ID Monitor, you must have a Commerce personal checking account, reside in the United States or its territories, and be a legal adult in your state of residence. The Service applies to the Commerce personal checking account holder and the spouse or domestic partner (a person who, although not legally married to the registered Customer, has cohabitated with the Customer for a period of at least one [1] year and is publicly represented as the Customer’s domestic partner in the community in which they reside), dependent children under the age of 21 who live with the Customer and dependent children under the age of 25 who are full-time students, as determined by IRS dependency requirements.
2. Keep your user IDs and passwords in one encrypted location for easy access from your phone.
3. Encrypted data storage for uploading and storing personal documents.

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