What Is Account Takeover Fraud?
Account takeover fraud is when cybercriminals obtain access to any of your bank or credit card accounts and use them to make purchases, withdraw money, or take the information they can use to access your other accounts.
These criminals can get access to your information via data breaches, malware, or phishing. If successful, an account takeover fraud can lead to unauthorized shopping, fraudulent transactions, and credit card fraud from compromised customer accounts.
How does Account Takeover Happen?
There is a multitude of ways for account takeover to happen; a few of those are:
- Brute-force attacks: Typically through an automated script, an attacker will try various username and password combinations until one works across multiple accounts.
- Breach replay attacks: Hackers know that many people often use the same password for many of their accounts. If a password leaks due to a data breach, any account with the same username and password is vulnerable.
- Phishing: Through email or another form of communication, an attacker can appear to be a reputable company or person. But once that form of communication gets opened, the attacker can steal your email address, or user ID, and password.
What Are Account Takeover and New Account Monitoring Services?
With New Account Monitoring and Account Takeover Monitoring alerts from Zander, your name and SSN are monitored, and you will be notified if an unusual or high-risk activity is detected. By accessing thousands of financial institutions across the country, Zander can monitor information daily against a cross-industry database and help with account takeover prevention.
Why Do I Need New Account Monitoring?
A fraudulent credit card account could be used to buy an endless number of items. Credit card offers are often a result of a change-of-address request processed by the post office. Thieves can use a credit card offer to open a fake account using your address, then go to the post office and complete a change-of-address form so that the bill will get mailed to the thief, wherever they choose. Sending the credit card bill to a new address means it takes much longer for the victim to realize they’ve become a victim. By having new account monitoring alert you can stop account takeover fraud and spot the signs of identity theft quicker, allowing you to react faster.
What Does New Account Monitoring Do For You?
New Account Monitoring allows you to minimize damage to your credit file by alerting you anytime your personal information is used to open a new credit account. The sooner you know your credit is compromised, the sooner you can work towards minimizing the damage. Zander is here to help!
To sign up for account takeover monitoring – included with the Elite Plan – contact Zander Insurance at 888-210-3274!