Does your toddler have a credit card?

They shouldn’t. But a new report shows that children are a more lucrative target for identity thieves than adults. On average, fraudsters are able to steal $2,303 by exploiting the identity of a minor, which is more than twice the average amount for adult victims. That’s according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, which surveyed 5,000 parents and guardians. Stealing the identities of minors isn’t child’s play. It can mean big money for criminals who, by targeting children, have a blank credit canvas on which to wreak havoc. The thieves steal a child’s personal information, such as a Social Security number, and then build a credit profile capable of duping lenders for years. When compared with adults, the incidents of child identity theft are relatively small, with just under 2 percent of minors becoming victims. Yet Javelin put the losses in child identity theft at $2.6 billion last year. The theives often create a “synthetic” identity, which combines real data with fake information. What can you do? First, regularly monitor your child’s credit reports. Go to annualcreditreport.com to get free reports every 12 months. If you see a fraudulent account, contact the business and file a police

May 7, 2018 No Comments

How to respond to fraud or a data breach

Time is of the essence, whether your personal data has been compromised as part of a larger targeted cyberattack or you are the victim of fraud or an individual cybercrime. You’ll need to take immediate action to minimize the impacts. These are steps you should take within specified time frames after discovering your data has been breached. Within the first 24-48 hours 1. Call your advisor, regardless of where or how the breach occurred, so he/she can watch for any suspicious activity in your accounts and collaborate with you on extra precautions to take in verifying your identity prior to any fund transfers. 2. Call the Social Security Administration’s fraud hotline at 800-269-0271 if you suspect your Social Security number has been compromised. The Office of the Inspector General will take your report and investigate activity using your Social Security number. The Social Security Administration also provides helpful materials, such as the pamphlet Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number. 3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), either at www.identitytheft.gov, by calling 1-877-IDTHEFT (TTY 1-866-653-4261), or by visiting www.ftc.gov. Click on Report Identity Theft to access the Identity Theft Recovery Steps. This one-stop resource for victims of identity theft will

October 3, 2017 No Comments

How to stay protected after the Equifax hack

Did you know that someone’s identity is stolen every 2-3 seconds? Or that the average loss per identity theft is around $5,000? How about the fact that it takes an average of 600 hours to recover from identity theft? Fraud and identify theft are a growth industry. As evidenced by the recent Equifax hack exposing the sensitive data of more than 145.5 million Americans, the number of incidents, the cost of mitigation, and the sophistication of cybercriminals are all on the rise. At Azzad, we take measures to protect your identity, data, and assets from these types of threats. For instance, we encrypt client information using tools like Sharefile and Docusign when we send and receive paperwork from you. We also call you to confirm all trade and money movement instructions, and we verify your identity before we release information. Our custodial partners also have measures in place to protect you. In addition to verifying bank links with micro-deposits before using them, they also require two-factor authentication before giving access to your information. Now that you’ve seen what we do, here are three things you can do: Protect your money – If you get a call from someone claiming to

October 3, 2017 No Comments