What to Do if Your Financial Information Is Breached

If your information has been breached, it's likely related to your finances

Financial identity theft and fraud is the most common type of fraud, and is still on the rise, with a 140% increase since 2020. Criminals can use stolen financial information to run up false charges on your credit cards, to get credit cards or loans in your name, to take over your accounts, and to commit tax or benefit fraud.

Fortunately, financial identity theft is also the most straightforward to defend against. (And it is important to protect yourself since the Federal Trade Commission reported consumers lost more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021. That’s a 70% increase over 2020!)

Steps to protect financial accounts exposed in a data breach:

• Close all affected accounts and have account numbers changed. This includes checking and savings accounts, money market funds, stocks, brokerage accounts, etc.

• Cancel all affected credit and/or debit cards.

• No matter what the breach notification tells you, assume passwords and usernames were breached. Change usernames and passwords anywhere else you use the same ones.

• Password-protect your accounts using strong passwords. Better yet, use a password manager to create and manage passwords.

• Set up two-factor authentication on your accounts, using a PIN, facial or fingerprint ID on your device, or, ideally, having a security code emailed or texted to you to confirm your identity.

• Set up email or text alerts on your financial accounts to notify you immediately of new activity

• Review your account statements closely for fraudulent transactions.