Brett Johnson [00:00:00]:
We are looking forward our way. Hi. This is Brett. Yeah. Daily, we fear that our financial and personal information has been stolen, and we get these emails, we hear stories. We've been hacked. We're vulnerable with every online purchase, every phone call or text, virtual wallets, as well as the wallet in our pocket or purse. Today, we're gonna have to review the issues on how to fix the damage with our expert guest, Victor Russell.
Brett Johnson [00:00:26]:
He's the operations manager from Apprisen. Welcome and thank you so much for joining us, Victor.
Victor Russell [00:00:31]:
Brett, thanks for having me on this wonderful afternoon and, very happy to be here. Thank you.
Carol Ventresca [00:00:37]:
So, Victor, this a new acquaintance for us. However, Brett and I are familiar with Apprisen. They were a wonderful partner of ours when we were in the nonprofit world. And so, I wanna do a shout out to Chris Calais and all of your colleagues at A Price and for helping us get this together today. I called Chris and said, you know, everybody in the city of Columbus now has been hacked because the city hall has been hacked. So who can we talk to about this? And and he gave me your name. So, again, my thanks to him and, hope everybody at Aprizeon is doing well. Haven't seen those folks for a while and and, hope to hope to see them again soon.
Carol Ventresca [00:01:17]:
So, before we dive into the topic, a lot of folks may not be, aware of what Apprisen does, who it is. For those of us growing up in Columbus, we know you as the Consumer Credit Counseling Bureau, but the organization has grown significantly. And, I think it would be really interesting for folks to hear more about APPRISEN, what you do, your programs, you know, what is your goal and the path of the organization and how you got there?
Victor Russell [00:01:51]:
Well, first off, Apprisen is basically the same agency that consumer credit counseling service was. Still 501c3 nonprofit agency. And that we're gonna be celebrating our 70th year next year, believe it or not. So, you know, not not many organizations have that type of longevity, especially in our industry. So, you know, we're tried and true. We've been around for a while. You know, basically what we do is we help individuals with personal financial management issues of all type, all types. We're best known for helping individuals reduce and control their unsecured debts through a structured repayment program, which enables them to reduce and pay off their debts a lot sooner than if they take it upon themselves to do so.
Victor Russell [00:02:39]:
We do that through negotiating better terms on creditors that they may have, that may be better payment terms, better interest rates, but that's what we're known best for. But we also provide a litany of other services. So we do assist individuals with, you know, basic income and expense management, taking a look at those expenses and see where, you know, you can make your expenses more negotiable to put more money back in your pocket, so you can build assets and wealth. We also provide other services that really take a deep dive into income and expense management. And more importantly, we do offer what are called credit health education sessions. Those help individuals in credit management, and it's so important these days to have that because we're still in a in an environment where interest rates are elevated. They're still fairly high, even though the Federal Reserve is, you know, decreased interest rates now by, you know, 3 quarters of a percent last two meetings they had. You know, they're still relatively high.
Victor Russell [00:03:40]:
So you have to have that really good credit score in order to not pay as much for the money that you borrow. So we do assist with that too as well. We're also approved by the federal trustees office to provide the bankruptcy pre filing certificate certificate that's required, by, an attorney and by the US trustees office to for an individual to file bankruptcy. So So we're approved by the US Trustee's office to do that. We're also a HUD certified housing counseling agency. So we do help individuals that may be behind on their mortgage payments, help out with foreclosure mitigation. But we also help people with, pre purchase counseling sessions as well to prepare for home ownerships. And a lot of people do are are all still still sitting on the sidelines right now, waiting for those interest rates to come down.
Victor Russell [00:04:26]:
But now with those, as I mentioned before, those interest rates coming down through the Federal Reserve, a lot of people coming off the sidelines now to purchase homes. And, we do provide that pre purchase counseling session. We also offer a virtual council a pre purchase counseling session that provides the certification that individuals can use to maybe obtain down payment assistance Mhmm. For the purchase of a new home, or also work with their lender maybe to get some, maybe some small decreases on interest rates, whatever whatever the case may be. But that's a 6 hour course that we do offer and the individual can take it at their own pace. So, we we also provide that service as well. But we also, do help out with student loans, you know, if individuals are struggling with student loans, Especially, it's in in this environment where, you know, one minute, you know, the student loans were gonna get forgiven, core challenges came up, and now we had the save program, and now that's being challenged. So there's a lot of, you know, maybe some questions regarding student loans as well.
Victor Russell [00:05:27]:
So we do provide some guidance on that too. So really, many services that we do offer, and we do financial education presentations out in the communities as well for for employers and groups. You know, all of our services are all listed on our our website, www.apprisen.com. And, you know, take a look. And, we also are on social media as well, all social media platforms. And, you know, if individuals are very interested and maybe doing a little bit of, you know, taking a look and see what they can do with their expense and income management online, you know, please visit our website. And, once again, celebrating our 70th year next year.
Carol Ventresca [00:06:07]:
Is is it correct that the services are free of charge?
Victor Russell [00:06:12]:
The majority of our services are free. There are charges for certain, services. The Credit Health Education Session, for example, financial health plan would have would have a charge. Bankruptcy, our bankruptcy online submission, does have a fee, but it could be waived if you're income eligible due to household size and income. So, you know, there are fee related charges, but just to talk to a counselor, comprehensive financial counseling session, that's free. Okay. And individuals that if they do enter a debt management program, there may be a monthly or setup fee to get that going. But once again, if you're income eligible due to household size and income, it's really regulated by the state, there may be no fee for that.
Carol Ventresca [00:07:00]:
That that's good to know because so many times, I think of apprison when I see all the TV commercials talking about helping people decrease their debt or, oh, getting rid of the IRS and blah blah, you know? And I'm think sitting there thinking, how much is that really costing them to get rid of that? Because often those organizations are not the I mean they're they are, private entities. They're wanting to make a profit. You being a non profit, whole different funding model and are able to provide a lot of those services for free. Thank you so much. Well, you're welcome.
Brett Johnson [00:07:34]:
Yeah. Well, every day we see headlines warning against spam emails and texts, false websites, or phone calls that portray family members in trouble. We often, are surprised at the results of a stolen identity as well too. We may not be able to rent an apartment because of that or could lose federal income tax return or rejected for a credit card or rejected for a job due to an inaccurate credit history. What issues have your clients experienced as you work with them on their credit history?
Victor Russell [00:08:04]:
Yeah. Well, recently, and and I just, you know, did did a poll of, my my team that Nance provides assistance via our phone queue. We're we're starting to see more, seniors. There there are 22 scams particularly. One they call the grandparent scam, where they they are contacted by an individual who proceeds to act like a grandchild or a relative that is in dire financial need, due to some type of, law issue and they're gonna go to jail. And, they glean information from the conversation that they're having with that individual at that time. They don't necessarily know who they may be, but they take on the character by talking to the individual on the phone and and having a prolonged conversation with them. And the individual that is being scammed ends up sending money or wiring money to them, and on occasion, they will continue to call back saying, you know, the the $5,000 that you wired wasn't enough.
Victor Russell [00:09:17]:
I need another $2,000 in order to take care of this issue. Please don't tell mom and dad about this. And then they send the other 2,000. And then they'll keep continue to do that until, you know, the the individual says, this doesn't seem right to me. And by then, you know, they they've already they've already lost. I I you know, I I did one workshop for a senior group and a woman confided in me that she had lost $16,000, on a grandparent scam. The other scam that we're seeing, more and more of are romance related scams, which really take advantage of individuals that may be lonely, individuals that, you know, are secluded. And, they get involved with individuals, not only online, but a simple phone call where they start engaging them in a conversation about simple things.
Victor Russell [00:10:10]:
Could be, you know, how's your day going? And, you know, and they're just showing concern at the outset, in the conversation. And then they start gleaning information once again about the individual and their family and and their situation. You know, if an individual starts sharing, you know, I'm all alone in this house, you know, I really don't talk to many people. So, you know, I I just I basically watch, you know, television most of the day. Well, that that's their end. And then they start saying, boy, you must really be lonely. You know, me too. I'm lonely too.
Victor Russell [00:10:42]:
And they start, you know, personalizing the conversation. So we're having individuals calling us, that need assistance with debt that they've run up, giving in, you know, giving that money to these individuals, understanding at a certain point that, my goodness, I've gotten scammed, and can't afford to repay the debt that they've run up. And let's face it, you know, these these single individuals usually have really high credit scores, usually have a lot of assets. They probably own their own home at this stage. So they have a lot of available money to tap into that the individual coaches them on how to tap into those funds and send it to them. So we're seeing more of that, unfortunately. That's not something new, but it seems to be on the uptick, with with some of the calls that work we have coming into our agency at this stage. And we do the best we can with those types of calls, because those individuals are usually on fixed incomes.
Victor Russell [00:11:43]:
And, we if we cannot provide a structured repayment program, let's say the debts too much or whatever the case may be, we do provide direction on what steps they need to take in order to resolve the debt issue that they're contacting us about. Not only that, but we'll provide resources that may be available to them, to, get back on track and try to rectify the situation. So those are the types of things that we're we're seeing most of right now. And, there some of them are not new and they just continue to be issues. But it really is based on, you know, that trust that somebody builds with somebody right away, and, that rapport. And they're really good at it, but they know they know what kind of victim they want, and, and they know how to zero in on that really well.
Carol Ventresca [00:12:35]:
But it it seems that we are, all shocked when it happens. And in actuality, we really should be preparing ourselves ahead of time to hopefully not get into that kind of a situation. So one of the first things that you always read about is get a credit report, know your credit report. I'm wondering how many people actually know what a credit report is, what to do with it, what it's telling you, and then how do you keep all of that kind of documentation, your credit report, account information, how do you keep it safe? So let's start there and then we'll move on to the other steps.
Victor Russell [00:13:17]:
Well, and I'm glad you brought this up because, you know, I I think, you know, the first place you're gonna find if you've been a victim of identity theft is gonna be that credit report. And it's so important these days, especially with the database breaches that we've seen. I've been a victim three times myself, and, you know, without knowing it happened, 3 different database breaches. I get a notice in the mail, and, you know, you have ability to access your free credit report, you know, going here, here, here. So they really need to take advantage of that because if you are a victim of identity theft and somebody's taking loans out in your name, it's the first place it's gonna show up. That's your first that's your first line of defense, and making sure that you under you're aware of what's happening. So with that said, I always like, you know, peep a lot of people use a lot of different, you know, credit reporting, free credit report reporting vehicles. My favorite one is annualcreditreport.com.
Victor Russell [00:14:18]:
It it to me, it's got the most detailed information. It goes right to the credit reporting agencies. It also, is secured by the Federal Trade Commission. The site is that you go to. So it does provide that that safety net. And, and it even though it doesn't provide the credit score, it does give you, the information that you need in order to defend yourself if something were to happen. So you can choose all 3 credit reports all at once. That's TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.
Victor Russell [00:14:50]:
Those are the big three. Okay? And you wanna hit all 3 to make sure that you're seeing what's being reported about you with all 3 of these, because they're all reported too differently. You know, some some things that show up on Experian may not show up on on TransUnion and vice versa. Some things that show up on Equifax may not show up on Experian. So you need to get all 3. Now you can get all 3 at once, once a year. The way I do it is I kind of space them out. I'll get Experian say in January, I'll get Equifax in May, and then TransUnion say in September.
Victor Russell [00:15:24]:
So all year long, I'm getting an idea of what's being reported about me. So I space them out And, you know, I'll just I'll just put it down on my on my outlook calendar or whatever the case is. Hey, pull your, you know, pull your free credit report on Experian today. But if you do it year round, you're getting you're getting a better idea about what's what's being reported about you instead of just waiting once a year. And I think that has to be a part of everybody's personal financial management these days. Mhmm. Because once again, credit management is extremely important. It's but you're for it's just not identity theft, it's why it's important, but also the cost of borrowing money these days.
Victor Russell [00:16:00]:
You really gotta have that good credit score in order to not pay a lot for the money that you borrow. Right. So that's the that that's the first step that you you can take in in defending yourself. And should And you do that on your own, you know, it's not something you have to pay for. I know there's services out there that you can pay for. But, I think if you're diligent and you do these things on a regular basis, you'll have a good indicator if there's any issues going on with your identity. Right. Number 1.
Carol Ventresca [00:16:28]:
And should we
Victor Russell [00:16:29]:
That that that that's the positive of of getting your free credit report.
Carol Ventresca [00:16:33]:
Shouldn't we also assume our information has been hacked? I mean, people always say, oh, no. I haven't been hacked. I I think we need to assume that everything is in on the dark web. Our phone numbers are easily accessible. Our emails are easily accessible. Those are the first two steps. It's not hard after that.
Victor Russell [00:16:53]:
Well, I I think with the number of database breaches that have gone on and, you know, there was a really big one with Equifax. Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [00:17:00]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:17:01]:
That's 144,000,000 identities that were compromised. That, you know, that's that's a lot of people. And, you know, the thing about that was is that the information that was, that was compromised was a lot more than phone numbers and addresses. It was social security numbers. It was birth dates. It was credit information. You know, everything that they capture and report was was compromised. So I I kinda agree with you Carol.
Victor Russell [00:17:30]:
I think we need to, we need to defend ourselves, and make sure that we're taking the necessary steps to protect ourselves, but also be aware of anything that may show up that is not ours and then take the necessary steps to fix it. Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [00:17:45]:
Read read your mail.
Victor Russell [00:17:47]:
Definitely read your mail.
Brett Johnson [00:17:49]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and to that point too that, you know, a lot of credit card companies and banks are kind of forcing your hand not to get the paper statement. So, that is one thing out of sight out of mind. You don't really think about looking at your statement because it's not physically there to look at. So, it's that when you get your bills when you have to pay go online take a look at what was charged and if anything looks strange, most credit card companies are on your side.
Carol Ventresca [00:18:15]:
Right.
Brett Johnson [00:18:15]:
Let me help you out with it. But, but yeah, you gotta be diligent. Exactly. We also, you know, hear those terms phishing, smishing. I never heard of smishing. So, you found another one there too.
Carol Ventresca [00:18:25]:
Spoofing, yeah.
Brett Johnson [00:18:26]:
Spoofing. Social media has made protecting our identity even harder. What are some tips we should follow when someone, maybe a friend or maybe not a friend approaches us online or on our phones?
Victor Russell [00:18:41]:
Well well, the the the short answer is, you know, don't don't respond, because especially if they have links that are included. Because once you click that link, and it may it may appear to be from a legal entity. For example, IRS is gonna send you things through the mail. They're not gonna contact you by phone, and they're not gonna email you. Alright? Social Security, same way. Alright? So if you were to get an email from Social Security Administration stating that your Social Security number has been compromised, you need to click this link in order to fix it. That, and if you click that link, you're, you're compromised. And it will open up a whole Pandora's box of, of issues that you're going to have to deal with.
Victor Russell [00:19:29]:
So you have, you have to make sure that all correspondence that you're receiving, you want, you're aware of it, that you know who this is, and that it's from a trustworthy source. You know, they always talk about the lockbox up on, up on websites that you could take a look at to make sure that site's secured. A lot of individuals that tap into a person's identity, they send what look like official looking emails to individuals. I just mentioned Social Security Administration, and they don't have that secured, function on the site. So the the diligence that you practice is, if it if you don't know this person, don't respond. If you have an ability to, if they say, hey, it's Fred, and Fred's your best friend, and they're sending you an email, but they never email you, you might want to call Fred and just verify, hey, did you just send me an email? Or do do something like that because, you know, things that are out of the ordinary, are the things that will get you in trouble. So that that's where the diligence comes in, especially with social media. You know, I personally, I'm I'm not a huge user of social media, because I I don't want to share a lot of my personal information.
Victor Russell [00:20:51]:
Even in common conversation, I I don't like to post things that I've done. Like, I'm I'm having a great vacation here in Florida, and that means my my house. So guess what? Why don't you break into my house?
Brett Johnson [00:21:03]:
Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Victor Russell [00:21:04]:
So it's things like that. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [00:21:06]:
If you gotta post it, wait till you come back home. Right. And then, you know, it's another week. Okay. Come on.
Victor Russell [00:21:13]:
Yeah. But but it's little things like that, you know, that the people, you know, the the the, the identity thieves and individuals that do this for a living. I mean, they're really good. They're really good at what they're doing, and, they make a lot of money at what they're doing. So they know, you know, what the triggers are and what to look for. So those common sense type things, I know that we wanna share a lot of information with our friends now that we have the ability to do that on a regular basis. But you you might wanna tone that down because that opens the door to, to those thieves. And and that, and they're always looking for information to build an identity that's yours.
Brett Johnson [00:21:56]:
Yeah.
Victor Russell [00:21:56]:
Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays of relatives, favorite sports teams, groups that you belong to. Those can all be used to formulate passwords that you are using, you know, to log into your information. So it's all of those things that they look for and glean that information to become you.
Brett Johnson [00:22:19]:
I I try to remember what country I had heard about that, you know, most of the spamming and the and the the bad stuff is happening. But, I I cannot recall what it was, but it but it was spotlighted because that was their biggest GDP
Carol Ventresca [00:22:33]:
Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [00:22:34]:
Was scamming.
Victor Russell [00:22:35]:
Wow.
Brett Johnson [00:22:36]:
And it's like, oh my gosh.
Carol Ventresca [00:22:39]:
Your whole economy for a country based on scamming others.
Brett Johnson [00:22:42]:
Yeah. Yeah. So that's how that's how well, and and and to your point, that's how big it is. This is this is not game. This is not a game. This isn't yeah.
Victor Russell [00:22:52]:
Yeah. You're really good at it.
Carol Ventresca [00:22:53]:
Yeah. Well, you know, my my story of the first time I, became aware of Apprisen, which was then Credit Counseling Services, when my father died, we found out accidentally that, a an insurance program through the union he had belonged to, the information, and the funds were absconded by the person in charge of the program, and so we had no clue. They thought this person took all of the information and documentation, which means he would have taken social security numbers for all of the members. So and we didn't know. We we had no clue. But even if he didn't take it, the information wasn't there, the materials weren't there, it was gone, anybody could have had it. So I went I called the your office in Columbus and, talked to somebody. They had me come in, and we I ended up closing down both his social security number and my mom's.
Carol Ventresca [00:23:54]:
So that that kind of leads me into this next question that you had mentioned there's a lot of scamming going on with, older older folks. From what I've read, older individuals and younger individuals are most vulnerable, and and probably from that whole social media thing. But I can remember when I was in college, all of our identifying information was based on our Social Security number, so we all knew it off the top of our head. And it was everywhere on every piece of paper. What are the kinds of things that, we we've already talked a little bit about older adults, but what what are the kinds of things that young folks should also be leery of? They're probably not really good at keeping a checking account.
Victor Russell [00:24:38]:
Yeah. And and with with the, invention of online banking and Fintech that's out there now, Fintech operations and apps, you know, that individuals can use. A lot more opportunities, obviously, for information to be gleaned and compromised. You you know, I I think once again, with the younger generation, and, you know, I have 2 daughters that I continually coach on a regular basis. You know, they they, they have brought to my attention, some things that they've seen, that have been sent to them on their phone due to the logarithms, you know, that, you know, online sites use and, you know, Google and so on and so forth. They already know a lot about us and what our interests are. So, they, they, they, they received some, information from a certain entity that, you know, was of interest to them. And, and they did not respond, but they came to me and, you you you know, the thing that kinda caught my eye was is that they were they were trying to be really personal, not professional in the in these emails.
Victor Russell [00:25:51]:
They were, once again, hey, how are you doing today and what are you doing? And, we just wanna take a short survey and and to see, you know, how you feel about, concert tickets, for example, or how how you feel about the local bar scene and that type of thing. And, and they said, you know, I don't know who this is and I don't know, you know, what's going on here. So once again, use common sense, you know, if these things show up and you don't know where it's coming from, you know, you just don't respond to it. Unfortunately, our our younger generation, they they have a tendency to kind of respond to everything because they think it, you know, the phone's secure, everything's secure. And once again, unknowingly, they're giving information to individuals, you know, on a regular basis via their electronic devices. So I mean, it's great that we have these electronic devices that get things for us right now, right? We get things done right now. But we have to take time when we're on certain sites to number 1, make sure they're legitimate. Number 2, is this something that I really am a part of or that I understand, and question it? You know, especially if it's something that's a survey type thing or something that appears to be something that's related to things that you like, and, and not participate in those types of things.
Victor Russell [00:27:24]:
What and Go ahead.
Carol Ventresca [00:27:26]:
It it it seems that, all of us and and young folks for sure, have the firm belief that it's gonna go away, which it doesn't. Whatever's out there on the internet stays forever. Their their phones are secure, which they're not.
Victor Russell [00:27:41]:
Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [00:27:42]:
And how many of them lose their phones? My young cousins always laugh because I won't do Zelle on my phone, and I'm like, well and my bank won't let me do Zelle on my computer at home that I know is locked down, but I'm not gonna do it on my phone. But it it seems that, they don't they really don't believe these lessons until they're hurt. And, boy, once you're hurt, it takes a lot more time and resources to fix it than it does to protect yourself ahead of time.
Victor Russell [00:28:12]:
Yeah. Just just think about if if, you know, somebody once again created you and, and they and they know a lot about you and they become you, it's it's not gonna be easy to eliminate that other you that's out there.
Carol Ventresca [00:28:27]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:28:28]:
Carol, you're exactly right. Everything that we do, you know, we think is, well, you know, because I text my wife, you know, she's the only one that, you know, gets this information. Really, that's public information, you know, and so we really have to watch exactly how we're communicating, and, and the method that we're using to communicate, because it could come back to haunt us somewhere down the road. I don't want to scare people with this, you know, by all means. But let's face it, the number one, probably the number one way people communicate these days is by text. I mean, every time we talk to our clients, you know, they say, my preferred method, not every time, but majority of the time, they say, you know, I like to I like to communicate via text. Send me a text, I'll respond to you. Mhmm.
Victor Russell [00:29:17]:
Okay.
Carol Ventresca [00:29:17]:
I mean, you can literally buy a house on text.
Victor Russell [00:29:20]:
Yeah. Yeah. No question. You know, these things could be done electronically. But you're right, that information, once it's out there, it's out there, right? So, you know, once again, it's common sense type things. When people get in trouble with electronic media, it's because they're in a hurry. And they don't take the time to take a look at that item and decipher, I don't know who this is, and I don't know why they're asking me these questions. They'll just respond so they can move on to the next thing.
Victor Russell [00:29:52]:
And that's the one bad thing about our society, it's moving so fast these days. You know, I kind of call it a TikTok society because we want short bursts of information, we want it quick, right? But you got to take at least more than 10 seconds to decipher messages that you may not be familiar with. And I think if we just slow down, I think a lot of these issues that people are having with having their identities compromised, it probably would, you know, decrease instead of, you know, be on the increase.
Carol Ventresca [00:30:25]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:30:25]:
Because there's so much information that's gathered these days. That's for sure.
Brett Johnson [00:30:29]:
Yeah. So, once we discover that our identity has been stolen, we get over the shock of it, of course, and it's going to take a little bit of time, but then then the freak out moment, of course. What's the very first thing we should do? And then, the next step and the next step, is there a, a proper way of handling this that, you know, okay, I'm gonna get through this and this is what I gotta do step by step.
Victor Russell [00:30:53]:
Yeah. The the first step I, you know, I I always recommend people to do is, contact your financial institution. And, you you once again, protect your checking accounts and your savings accounts, But they need to be contacted 1st. And then you contact your credit card companies, which is related to your financial institution, you know, on the onset. Contact the Social Security office, just to let them know that, you know, you may have had an issue with your Social Security number being compromised, see what guidance you can get from them. And, you know, we'll provide a phone number here a little later for the Social Security Administration. But you gotta file a police report. And the reason why, this is important is so that there's a record of, you, you were a victim of being robbed.
Victor Russell [00:31:46]:
And, because that's what it is, it's robbery. So, you file a police report and then you can use that police report, to move forward in any litigation against the individual if they're found, to attempt to, prosecute them. And then, try try to maybe get some, you know, some some of the money back, if at all possible, from the individual. It's a real important step that people fail to take most times when they are a victim of identity theft. There are some great resources that are available on the ftc.gov website, that have additional information about what you should do if you are a victim. But my recommendation would be financial first, contact the financial institutions, make sure you're contacting your credit card companies and letting them know that your your your identity has been compromised. They will take the necessary steps on their end in order to cancel those accounts and issue a new card with a new number. And then, of course, with with the checking and savings accounts, they will safeguard your accounts as well.
Victor Russell [00:32:54]:
But that police report is vital because, it's gotta you gotta have a record of it, so that these individuals can eventually be caught and prosecuted, when they do get caught.
Carol Ventresca [00:33:04]:
Victor, there was some research that I saw online about 6 or 8 months ago that talked about how, individuals in the midst of this identity theft actually lose ownership of their homes. The people are able to go in and take over a deed. Now if you are on a mortgage, the chances, I think, are less because you'd have the person would have to hack into the mortgage company to to take on your your account. But, I had a conversation with my county's auditor's office who then sent me to the recorder's office when I paid my house mortgage and said, how do I how do I make sure somebody doesn't come in and take over my house? And so they were basically saying there really isn't a way per se except, again, do your research, go into the recorder's office, and check your deed, which is recorded on
Brett Johnson [00:34:11]:
do that.
Carol Ventresca [00:34:11]:
On there. And and they were say he the the gentleman I talked to suggested every year you pay your taxes twice, go into the recorder's office, and check and make sure that nobody put any made any changes to your deed.
Victor Russell [00:34:27]:
Yeah. I agree with that. You can also, you know, there are title search companies that can provide a service. I think title searches, I used to be in the mortgage lending industry and at that time, title searches ran about $200. I would say probably these days, maybe they're up around 3.5, dollars 3.50, dollars 400 but a title search actually searches your deed as well. And, they come back with any liens that are against the property, any, any changes, you know, obviously in the name of the person that owns the property, but all that information is also on that title search as well.
Carol Ventresca [00:35:05]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:35:06]:
So that might be another way that you could, you know, check check your deed out. Personally, I, you know, I I've, I've I've done I've researched my own deed, at the courthouse, and, so far so good. But, you know, I don't do it every year. I do it every, you know, few years. But you're right, this is another new way that people are getting, robbed. Right.
Carol Ventresca [00:35:31]:
Right. Well, then I
Victor Russell [00:35:32]:
By taking your largest asset, which let's face it, in the last 3 years, housing values have skyrocketed. Right. So, you know, that's a big chunk of money that somebody could be getting into. And once again, through that senior scam, that romance senior scam, that's one of the things they talk about. You know, they talk about, oh, you know, you like your house? Where is it located? And then it'll just start at once. A lonely person gets, starts giving them that information, then they start, starting, they start a process of maybe utilizing that information to go to do courthouse searches. Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [00:36:10]:
Well, and and you can do some research online with your county auditor's office, because it'll say who owns the property. And I think it indicates if the property is under a mortgage company or not, as to where it it's it's part of where the tax bills are directed because the mortgage company would be paying the taxes. But, I think that that really brought to my mind that when you go through a hack, when you go through an identity issue, you really have to think outside the box because it is really important to for checking, savings, and credit cards, but there's a whole lot of other stuff that falls under our assets that we have to protect.
Victor Russell [00:36:54]:
Sure.
Carol Ventresca [00:36:54]:
Okay.
Victor Russell [00:36:55]:
Yeah. And and I was just I was just giving you the starting points. That's the first places I'd go, you know, and follow that police report. But you're exactly right. I mean, if you're in a situation where you own your home free and clear, you're gonna have to take another step, right?
Carol Ventresca [00:37:07]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:37:08]:
And protect that asset as well. Investments, you're gonna have to take another step and check your investments and make sure that, you know, those haven't been drained or those haven't been cleaned out and see exactly how the how those are right now. Because let's face it, you know, with the stock market climb that we've had, in the last, you know, couple years, you know, people's values of their 401 k investments have gone up and even their their other investments too. So, yeah, there's a lot to protect. You're exactly right. And, you know, it just depends on each individual on how many things you really need to be aware of, because they're going to go where the money's at. They're going to follow the money, and they're going to, you know, I would say the first places they're going to attack, they're going to they're going to try to open up loans in your name. They'll go after bank accounts if they if they have enough information to do that, if they have your account information.
Victor Russell [00:38:00]:
And then, you know, they'll go after the other assets too, depending on how much information they've gleaned and how much and how much, they progressed.
Carol Ventresca [00:38:07]:
Right. Absolutely. Thank you. So we've, we've done that. We've gotten through that first shock and taken the beginning steps. We have to move forward. We have to keep moving and using all of these accounts that that could, be up, be vulnerable. And I think, to that, we suddenly realize, as Brett mentioned at the top of this episode, there's a lot that can happen if our identity has been hacked.
Carol Ventresca [00:38:38]:
We may not be able to get a loan, we may not be able to get a credit card, and we may not be able to get a job that somebody is offering us because we're coming up looking like bad credit. What are the specific kinds of things an individual should really take to begin stabilizing their credit and financial and personal history?
Victor Russell [00:38:59]:
Well well, yeah. And and once you've realized you've become a victim, you've already you've already taken the necessary steps of protecting your assets, number 1. So that, you know, that's the biggest step. You know, the other thing that you need to do is, you need to, each credit reporting agency has the ability to freeze or unfreeze your credit report. So to ensure that no other loans are going to be taken out in your name, you should probably put that freeze on your credit report. And that means, what happens is, is that anybody that's trying to take out a loan in your name, they have to contact you in order to verify that. So that freeze is extremely important. And when that's put on your credit report, that's one of the first protections that you have with your credit, okay? Now, if you're if you put a freeze on it because you think you may have been a victim, and you try to go go out and purchase an automobile, you're not gonna be able to unless you unfreeze the credit report.
Victor Russell [00:40:02]:
Alright? So a lot there's some people that we talk to that put a freeze on their credit report, and they're wondering why they're getting turned on for a loan, and, you know, nobody's telling them, well, we just couldn't access your credit. You know, you gotta unfreeze that credit report in order for them to have access to that credit report to make a loan decision. So you freeze the credit report. The next thing you do I mean, if it's a Social Security issue, nothing wrong with contacting the Social Security Administration and explain what happened to them. You know, what happened to you, excuse me, and let them know that you want to be notified if there are any issues with them applying for your Social Security money, maybe submitting an application for Medicare. You know, you know, one of the biggest issues, and we identified this years ago, but people still do it, is they carry around their Social Security card in their wallets and purses, and they carry their Medicare card in their wallets and purses. You know, if you lose that information, people have, people that stole that information now have access to it and can use it. We've seen fraudulent medical bills of 1,000 of dollars medical procedures done on people, that that aren't the person that the Medicare was under.
Victor Russell [00:41:24]:
So that's another form of identity theft and issues that come up. And it's because they have access to that Medicare card and, you know, and so, you know, those things, I think you have to stop and keep those, those items in a secure, secure place, unless you are going to the doctor's office and you're making a specific trip to go there. But don't carry around, don't carry those items with you, around with you all the time. Because they, you know, if they, if they're taken, you know, that's a whole nother area that becomes an issue. And then, you know, they're, you're getting bills for copay amounts, you know, and people getting procedures done. And, you know, and then once again, you gotta clean that up. So you gotta get a bigger shovel. And, so it's those things that you have to be aware of, common sense things once again, that you have to do in order to protect yourself.
Carol Ventresca [00:42:13]:
There there was an article, I'm gonna have to see if I can find it again that, and we may have referenced it in previous podcasts, that basically said clean your wallet, take all the stuff out that you don't have to carry. So library you don't need library cards. The libraries will take your driver's license as proof of identity. You don't need things like membership cards and, the local museum membership and because all of those organizations are more vulnerable to hacking. Even your grocery, the you get your points for your growth for groceries. Yeah. You can there you know, you can use pins, numbers, and you can use, as I said, your driver's license. But basically to clean your wallet, clean all of that stuff out of your wallet.
Carol Ventresca [00:43:01]:
Only carry the absolute basic necessities.
Brett Johnson [00:43:04]:
Well, even to the point clean your key chain because all of it, like you said, there's little little tags you get for the grocery store, that's the thing that are supposed to be convenient. They have numbers. They have Right. You know, they can go and use it. Right. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah.
Victor Russell [00:43:18]:
Yeah. So Great point, Brett. Yeah. And, yeah, one thing, great point too, Carol. Yeah. You know, unless you've got to make a specific trip to go there, then you can take the card, you know, and do what you need to do. But keep it a secure place in your home. And you know, that's another thing that, you know, if you've got individuals who are coming in and doing some work, home improvement work or whatever the case may be, obviously don't have your your bank statements and credit card statements laying out on the table.
Victor Russell [00:43:46]:
You know, where where they may have access to that information.
Carol Ventresca [00:43:48]:
Or or your list of passwords.
Victor Russell [00:43:50]:
Yeah. I mean, you you know, it it see once again, it's those things that you think, you know, well, you know, I have individuals coming in for work, you know, to work on the house, and, you know, you clean up everything else, but you you leave out information like that. You know, it just makes it vulnerable is the bottom line.
Carol Ventresca [00:44:09]:
Right.
Victor Russell [00:44:10]:
Obviously, I'm not saying construction workers are identity thieves, right? That's a good example. That's a good example. It's just that, you know, individuals you don't know, you know, you just don't you just don't wanna have personal information, Leah, like that.
Brett Johnson [00:44:21]:
Well, you could say the same thing too, and you take your, car to the shop. Just a simple oil change. And you leave something in your car.
Victor Russell [00:44:29]:
Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [00:44:29]:
You'd yes. You want to think that you can trust the the dealership or the auto repair service that you're there, but everybody gets tempted. You know, you don't know. You don't know.
Carol Ventresca [00:44:42]:
You wouldn't you wouldn't leave cash on your dashboard. So why would you leave documentation?
Brett Johnson [00:44:47]:
Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So are there some other resources like organizations, government offices, or programs and services which you would suggest, to our listeners?
Victor Russell [00:44:58]:
Yeah. I tell you one, item that, you know, I I I I came upon that I found extremely valuable was the AARP fraud watch line. The number is 877-908-3360. You can report any fraud issues to this watch line. And, and they will provide information on what you need to do in order to, move forward with, you know, securing yourself. Social Security Administration number 800-772-1213. That's the line, now each, each city has their own individual Social Security office. So you could, you know, get that information with a search online, you know, socialsecurity.gov.
Victor Russell [00:45:49]:
But that's the main number for the Social Security Administration. One of the sites I love is the ftc.gov site. It provides, line by line, you know, what you should do if you become a victim. And, really has some great procedures that you can follow to not only, what you need to do if you become a victim, but to protect yourself. So it's got some great resources on there. Consumerfinance.gov, another great site. That's a that's a Consumer Financial Protection Division Bureau, that's a government entity. They've got great information as well, regarding, protecting yourself against identity theft and also the steps you need to take if you become a victim.
Victor Russell [00:46:33]:
Ohio AG's office is fantastic. In fact, that's another place that you need to go and report any identity theft issues or entities that you feel, were fraudulent to you. Report them to the AG's office because they keep a list, a database of all of these complaints and also places that may have had fraud issues and they will they will go after them. So, you know, that information that they get from individuals that are victims, they utilize, and then they share that information with all local law enforcement agencies through the state of Ohio. So, I think if you start there with those resources, I think those are invaluable.
Carol Ventresca [00:47:19]:
That's wonderful, and and thank you for all of those. We will make sure for our listeners that all of this information is in the show notes for this podcast and, are the on the resources sheet. We want to make sure that our our listeners can get the information they need, whenever they need it because they may not need it today, but they may need it tomorrow. So that's that's wonderful. Before we, let you go, we always ask our guests for their last words of wisdom. You've given us an incredible amount of information. Anything we missed? Anything you wanna make sure we we hear or you want to add a little bit more oomph to those to the topic?
Victor Russell [00:48:05]:
You know, I think once again, awareness, slowdown. You know, it this world moves so fast that we've we've got to be more cognizant of who's trying to contact us and why. If you don't feel if you're not a good bookkeeper, okay, then maybe you shouldn't do online banking, for example. You know, maybe maybe that's something that you grow into. Alright? And, and and because it it if that's the case, then you're gonna be hit with over limit fees, you may be giving information to individuals that you shouldn't be giving information to. And diligence, you really got I think Brett brought this up. You gotta look at those statements every month to make sure there are no fraudulent charges on your accounts. And, I tell you the one thing that we we hear a lot of are all of a sudden these subscriptions that show up on people's credit cards accounts, and, they never subscribe to these places.
Victor Russell [00:49:12]:
You know, you know, you need to unsubscribe to those because those will show up on your statement every month. That means somebody is getting these subscriptions and they also may be testing, you know, your credit card to see, hey, if we get, if we get by with a subscription for $10 a month and they're not doing anything about it and it wasn't theirs, well well, then we're going to do a bigger charge on it, and then bigger and then bigger and then bigger. So you've really got to be aware of what's showing up on your statement and make sure you're doing your due diligence on that and reconciling those statements every month. If you use just online statements, take a look at the online statement on a regular basis, whenever the due date comes up. But you have to do that on a regular basis. And, you know, the same thing with your checking account. I'm an old timer, I'm a dinosaur. I still got a checkbook, and I still got an old ledger that I handwrite.
Victor Russell [00:50:06]:
But it's worked for me for years. I never bounced a check my whole life. And that's the way my record keeping is, and it's worked for me. Everybody's got their own way, but, you've got to be diligent about your finances and make sure that everything's in line and everything that shows up on that statement was because of you, not because of somebody
Carol Ventresca [00:50:29]:
else. As I mentioned earlier, don't worry about how much time it's taking you to be diligent because if you get hacked, it's gonna cost a lot more time and money to fix it. So Lot
Victor Russell [00:50:39]:
of frustration too. You know what? There's something there's something to be said for, the emotional part of that too as well. Because, you know, when you get compromised like that, that's a violation of you, you know? It really is. And, and you just don't feel comfortable in any surrounding anymore.
Carol Ventresca [00:50:54]:
Right. Very true.
Victor Russell [00:50:56]:
Yeah. Because you you and and you become very unstable and emotional and, and and it wears on you. There's no question about it.
Carol Ventresca [00:51:02]:
It's true. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Brett Johnson [00:51:05]:
Well, many, many thanks to our expert guest, Victor Russell, operations manager for Apprisen, for joining us today. Listeners, you can, well, thank you for joining us. You're gonna find contact information and resources we discussed in the podcast, in the show notes, and on our website at lookingforwardourway.com. And and we are looking forward to hearing for your feedback, especially on this episode. Give us any feedback on on what some tricks that you have found that helped you avoid some things as well too. We'd love to hear that. Hit us on our social media or just email us, or any other feedback you have on any of our other podcast episodes.