QUINCY (WGEM) – Identity theft is increasing year over year, according to the Better Business Bureau’s scam tracker. More than 16,000 reports were filed over the last three years.
Artificial intelligence is resulting in scams that are harder to spot, according to Quincy BBB Regional Director Don O’Brien.
He said the use of programs that respond to user-entered prompts, like ChatGPT, are to blame.
“One of the things that we’ve always talked about when we see phishing attempts, especially whether that’s through email or text message, would be look at the grammar. See if there’s something that doesn’t jive with the grammar. Well now, they can use A.I. tools to make them seem like that they’re legitimate or they’re clean,” O’Brien said.
Identity theft can happen to anyone, he explained. But scammers sometimes target younger people more. That is because of their typically clean credit histories.
If a scammer gets ahold of a young person’s personal information, such as their social security number and birthdate, they could access credit accounts and open new lines. From there, the scammer may consider purchasing expensive electronics or other pricey items without paying.
O’Brien recommended keeping close tabs on your credit report through three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Reports can be done through each of those agencies free of cost once per year, according to O’Brien.
“If you’re frugal like I am, you can space those out,” O’Brien said. “You can look at one the first third of the year, the second third of the year and the final third of the year. You can kind of switch them up.”
He asked people keep their social security, Medicare and Medicaid numbers secure to avoid getting their identities stolen. If a random person calls and asks for any of those numbers, O’Brien said not to surrender them.
He also recommended performing credit freezes and using multi-factor authentication to further prevent identity theft.
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