Protecting Your Accounts and Recovering From Identity Theft
Practical habits for protecting financial accounts, and the steps to take if something has already gone wrong.
Anyone who wants a straightforward review of account security habits, or who suspects they may already be a target of fraud.
Fraud attempts increasingly look routine — a call that sounds like a bank, an email that looks like a statement — and the habits that catch them are easy to skip when everything else feels urgent.
- How credit freezes work and when to use them
- Account alerts and two-factor authentication basics
- Verification habits for wire and transfer requests
- Common scams that specifically target retirees
- What a trusted-contact designation does on an investment account
- The reporting steps to take if fraud has already occurred
- What documents to keep as a record afterward
- 1
Understand credit freezes
A credit freeze restricts access to a credit report, which makes it harder for someone to open new credit in your name. Freezes can be placed and lifted for free with each of the three major credit bureaus, and a freeze doesn't affect existing accounts or a credit score. Placing one before there's a problem is generally simpler than reacting after fraud has already occurred.
Questions to answer- · Have we placed a freeze with all three major bureaus?
- · Do we know how to lift a freeze temporarily if we need to apply for credit?
- · When did we last check whether the freeze is still active?
- 2
Set up account alerts and two-factor authentication
Most financial institutions offer text or email alerts for logins, withdrawals, or changes to account information, and most also offer two-factor authentication as an added login step. Turning both on across every financial account takes a modest amount of time and closes off some of the most common paths fraud takes. Review the settings on each account rather than assuming they're already on.
Questions to answer- · Which of our accounts already have alerts turned on?
- · Is two-factor authentication enabled everywhere it's offered?
- · Who receives these alerts, and do they know what to watch for?
5 more sections in the full guide.
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- Build a verification habit for wire and transfer requests
- Recognize scams that target retirees specifically
- Consider a trusted-contact designation
- Know the reporting steps if fraud has already occurred
- Keep a record of everything after the fact
Official sources
Rules change. Confirm anything that affects a decision against the current official source.
Where this fits in our work
This guide accompanies our investment management work. Joe Donti meets with Arizona households by appointment — in the Scottsdale office, by phone, or on Zoom.
Related reading
This guide is general education and is not individualized investment, tax, legal, Medicare, or insurance advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy or sell any product or security. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Insurance and annuity guarantees depend on the claims-paying ability of the issuing carrier. Rules and figures change — confirm current details with the official sources above and with your own tax, legal, or insurance professional.