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Protect yourself against identity theft
Being a victim of identity theft is a night- mare. In today’s digital age, complaints about identify theft have increased year-to-year, now reaching epidemic proportions. According to a 2016 study just released by Javelin Strategy and Research, there were a reported 13.1 mil- lion people in the U.S. whose identities had been compromised by some form of identity fraud in 2015. In the last six years, over $113
billion has been stolen; that’s $35,600 stolen every min- ute. Modern identity theft is a problem no one can afford to ignore.
password for each site and each must be complex. The good news is you can have all the configuring done for you. LastPass is a great password manager tool. You only have to remember one password, and a new, complex password will automatically be gen- erated and encrypted every time you log on to a new site. Go to your FOP Benefits Plan by following the link below to get a direct link to LastPass.
Adopt credit freezes and account alerts: To defend yourself against being a victim of identity theft, se- cure a credit freeze with all three credit bureaus. A credit freeze prevents anyone from applying for credit or accessing your report without your ap- proval. Anyone includes you; so, any place where you apply, the bureau will call you on your mobile for approval. Your FOP Benefits Plan provider, Legal
Shield, will assist you with those registrations. Beware of solicitations: Never provide personal or financial information on the phone unless you have initiated the call. Shred all your sensitive documents and all junk credit applications with your name on them. Never answer an email with sensitive informa- tion – cyber thieves steal information in transit. Never answer an unsolicited email. Don’t click on unfamil- iar or unsolicited links. These are all tactics hackers use to get into your computer or mobile device and steal what you have stored.
TOM TUOHY
Your identity can be compromised and theft can occur in a variety of ways. The most common ways are via stolen credit card numbers, fraud- ulent purchases, seizing control of existing bank accounts, opening new accounts and, increasing at a rapid pace, income tax return fraud.
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Benefits Plan
Many people are lulled into a false sense of security be- cause credit card companies and banks often guarantee the loss. However, in an age of virtual thievery, the bad guys are targeting you, using every effort to acquire crit- ical indentifying information, such as your address and social security number. After that acquisition, and before you know it, these predators will have opened accounts in your name, taken out mortgages and loans across mul- tiple states and secured new credit cards using your per- sonal information. When these actions occur, you are in for a long and costly ride. You must clear up every debt and fight each separately, in its respective jurisdiction. Attorneys frequently have clients who have been arrested on outstanding civil warrants about which they knew ab- solutely nothing – and good luck cleaning up your credit.
So what do you do to protect yourself? First, secure low cost identity theft protection. Second, take the following precautions:
• Secure your mobile devices: There is no turning back. Our lives and our personal information are online and nearly 70 percent of consumer Internet searches and transactions occur from a mobile de- vice. Your mobile device is now the prime target for cyber thieves. Take care to apply all software updates on each of your mobile devices, including tablets. Protect your devices with a pass code and/or biomet- ric, and utilize the ability to encrypt and wipe clean any device if it is stolen.
• Vary your passwords: They are your first line of de- fense – and admit it – you are bad with them. You use the same easy-to-remember password for multiple sites. And that is exactly how your information on those sites is compromised. You must use a different
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FOP
To ensure identity safety, take all precautions and se- cure identity theft protection for you and for your fami- ly immediately. As a member of FOP Lodge 7, protecting yourself and your loved ones is easy, now that ongoing protection costs you only $8.95 per month. After vetting all competitors, the FOP is pleased to offer Legal Shield as the exclusive FOP Lodge 7 member discounted bene- fit for identify theft protection. Legal Shield will help you with every listed precaution, provide monitors and alerts and give you a service guarantee of $5 million. To access your benefit, visit your benefits plan site below.
Registration for FOP members is free. Visit www.fop- benefitsplan.com or call 866-729-5454 for assistance with registering. d
Tom Tuohy is the founder of Tuohy Law Offices and the FOP Benefits Plan. He has been a police lawyer for 34 years. His father was a CPD detective and his grandfather was CPD Chief of Major Crimes. Tom can be reached at 312-559-8400.
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