Account Takeover Fraud in Florida

Identity theft and fraud can affect Florida residents in countless ways, including account takeover fraud. If you are a victim of fraud in Florida, you may benefit from speaking with one of our Florida identity theft lawyers at Sharmin& Sharmin Attorneys at Law. The lasting effects of fraud can take months or years to fully resolve, especially without the help of an experienced attorney. 

What is Account Takeover Fraud

Account takeover fraud (ACO) happens most commonly in financial institutions, including bank, credit card, and e-commerce accounts. Someone may gain access to your account and continue to use it to their benefit through transferring funds, purchasing gift cards, or having another card issued to their address. They may change credential information to prevent you from accessing your account and recovering your information. However, in some cases, they may operate more discretely, simply collecting your other personal information necessary to access other accounts. 

At its core, account takeover fraud is a form of identity theft or credential theft because it requires gaining access to login information. The individual fraudulently accessing your account may gain access in several ways, including:

• Purchasing from the dark web
• Phishing scams
• Stealing information from devices connected to public wifi
• Collecting information directly from a lost or stolen wallet

Many who commit ATO fraud will use bots to hack your accounts. They can pull from purchased or stolen data in an automated process, trying combinations to access accounts. Once they successfully access one account, they often gain access to many others because of how often people use the same login information for multiple accounts. 

Protecting Yourself From Account Takeover Fraud

Simply having accounts and existing in the world poses a degree of inherent risk for account takeover fraud. Fortunately, you can do several things to minimize the risk and set yourself up to notice the issue quickly. Some of these include:

• Regularly changing your passwords
• Use a unique password for each account
• Take reports of data breaches seriously by changing passwords for exposed accounts
• Regularly confirm the correct contact information for your accounts

The Role of Your Financial Institution

Financial institutions often have security measures to identify unusual activity or fraud for their account holders. They may require multi-factor identification that requires you to enter a password and a code sent to the phone number or e-mail you provided. Many credit card companies or banks will notify you about unusual activity on the account, including purchases, unexpected or unusual travel, or logins from a new or unexpected device. So, while these notifications and security requirements may feel like overkill, they can be a critical step in protecting yourself from ATO fraud. 

Sharing Your Information 

In addition to the above steps, it is critical to ensure you are cautious about how and when you share login credentials. Someone with nefarious motives may pose as your financial institution or someone from a helpdesk for an account you hold. They may request information such as your social security number or login information through phone, e-mail, or text message. You should also look at these critically and verify separately when possible. To do this, you can simply initiate contact through channels you know to be valid, whether through the institution’s app, a phone number from the documentation you received from them, or other authenticated sources. These additional steps can ensure any information you provide is necessary and confidential