ID Theft Victims Seeking Help from ITRC

Digital fraud was on the rise before Covid-19 and recent surveys show that the current crisis is only magnifying the issue. Fraudulent transactions have increased over 5% from pre-Covid levels and 3 of every 10 individuals has been targeted by a digital fraud scheme. Securing identity is more important than ever.

I sat down with Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), to talk about identity theft/fraud and the strong relationship between the two, centered around leveraging analytics to combat identity theft.

Stu:                Eva, share with us the mission of the ITRC?

Eva:               Our mission over the last 20 years is to guide and empower all stakeholders - victims, consumers, government and industry - to reduce the risk and mitigate the impact of identity crimes and compromise.

Stu:                The data is clearly pointing to a major jump in identity related fraud due to the COVID-19 crisis. What impact is this having on the inquiries to the Identity Theft Resource Center?

Eva:               Our inquires have grown exponentially over the last few months. The ITRC receives inquiries through our call center and/or our web-based services. Those using our web-based services are usually not victims, but people who are trying to minimize the risk of a scam. In the month of March alone, we’ve seen 9 times increase in traffic to our website.

Our call center is where we generally hear from the victims of identity theft. These are the most vulnerable people who have the most challenging issues and relatively complex cases. We’ve seen an 88% increase in calls just for the month of May year-over-year. People are really needing that help and that assistance. And I’m glad we can be there for them, but it has been very challenging for ITRC.

Stu:                Those statistics are astonishing. Are there any specific scams or fraud typologies that have become more prevalent over the last several months?

Eva:               I’m glad you brought that up. There is something that surprised even me, and I’ve been in this space for over 30 years. It’s unemployment fraud or unemployment identity theft.  Now this is a problem that has always existed, and we would get maybe 1 or 2 calls per month about this issue. In the month of May alone we had 44 calls just on unemployment identity theft, across the country.

We’re really seeing some serious vulnerabilities in systems because of these data breaches. What’s painful is that the people that are calling us need resolution and benefits now. Now we understand based on what’s happened to them that it is going be weeks if not months before they can resolve this issue, take back their identity and get the benefits that they need.

Stu:                It really speaks to how opportunistic these fraudsters really are. Anytime there’s major payments and we’re not looking at those payments going out the door it creates a great opportunity for major fraud losses. Are you engaging with any third-party organizations to help combat these issues?

Eva:               Right now, we’re really focusing on our relationships with the Federal entities that we work with like the Federal Trade Commission, TIGTA and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ has given us grants to help our operations, so we’ve been comparing a lot of our trend data along with their trend data to see where they match, where they’re in alignment and where we’re seeing things that are different. And The Federal Trade Commission refers calls to us. But a lot of these other entities are not talking with the public and listening to not only what’s happening to them, but how it’s affecting their lives. Now we’re sharing all of that that information in the hopes that we can figure out some strategies to start reducing the overall number of these cases and complaints.

Stu:                And speaking of the trends in the data how are you leveraging technology to keep up with the increased demand that you’re seeing?

Eva:               We are lucky to have SAS helping us with an initiative that is going to leverage data and technology. As a small organization, we really want to help as many people as we can, but we have limited resources and capacity.  Victims come to us on live chat in big numbers, especially now. So when they have a really quick question it’s a useful way that they can get help or at least get beginning in their recovery and gets their remediation plans.

We are using a chat bot, ViViAN (the Virtual Victim Assistance Network) so that we can help people more quickly and get them some of that that front-end information.  By using AI technologies to be that first step, that first interactions that they have so they can get on their way it’s really going to help us to have more speed and efficiency particularly after hours in the evenings and on weekends but also for those use your questions that are very easy for us to answer but people just don’t know. So, we’re really hopeful that that’s going to allow us to potentially double the number of people that we can help in any given year.

Stu:                What advice do you have to the individuals on how they can better protect themselves and of course to the businesses and how they can better protect the individual?

Eva:               There are so many scams, frauds and issues right now. I think the best piece of advice I can give to the general public is to slow down, think about who is requesting this information and know you don’t have to react right away. Take the time to think if you initiated the contact, whether by e-mail, phone or by text, and always go back to the source. Even if whoever’s contacting you is creating a sense of urgency you don’t need to react. Don’t be afraid that you’re going to get in trouble or miss out on an important opportunity. Everyone can take 5 minutes to stop, think and then react.

 For organizations, it is going to be key that they know where problems exist in their systems so that they can really address the issues. This needs to be done at the strategic level. You need to identify where your vulnerabilities are and the tools that would use to make that assessment. A lot of that comes down to data sharing, data analytics and knowing that you can look at the broader either industry or maybe a consortium of partners. Look at what they’re experiencing, how they’re addressing it and do some knowledge and data sharing so that you can know what those vulnerabilities are.

Stu: The perfect storm of this crisis forcing rapid digital transformation is greatly increasing risk profiles everywhere. A different and wider data driven approach is required to achieve the desired balance. A big thank you to the Identity Theft Resource Center for all that you do to keep us safe and informed.

The full interview with Eva can be viewed here on the Fraud in Five & Security Intelligence playlist.