Life is hectic. As a small business owner, you have too much going on to worry about the possibility of identity theft. One breach of your personal and business information can mean thousands of dollars of charges being made in your name that creditors are expecting you to pay.
Cleaning up this type of mess can mean days spent away from your normal business activities, which costs you money and forward motion.
It’s not only individuals that need to worry about identity theft, but businesses are also often targeted. Using the name of a small business, its FEIN, and details on the business owner, a scammer can open lines of credit. These can often be for larger amounts than when stealing the identity of an individual.
There was a 46% increase in the number of reported business identity theft cases last year.
As a small business owner, it’s important to have identity theft protection that has your back and can alert you should any of your information be used illegally to obtain credit or access to one of your financial accounts.
What Can a Thief Do with Your Personal & Business Details?
Open New Loans or Credit Cards Using Your Business Name
It only takes a few pieces of information and a faked ID to open a new loan or credit card in your company’s name. If you have good credit, a hacker can pose as you and do even more financial damage.
Banks are eager to sign up new accounts, and to a hacker, the interest rate doesn’t matter. They just want the cash, and you end up getting the bill after they’re long gone.
Gain Access to Your Company Financial Accounts
With details like your address, SSN, and FEIN a clever scammer could fool a bank or credit card employee into giving them access to your account. These days, things like wire transfers and account withdrawals don’t even have to be done in person. They can be done over the phone or electronically.
You could find your bank account emptied by a scammer and have a hard time recovering the money.
Cause Harm to Your Personal & Business Credit
Cleaning up credit damaged by identity theft is a long process, and until things are cleared with the banks or credit agencies involved, your credit can be hurt. This may keep you from getting a much-needed business loan or being able to buy a new vehicle on credit. You may also find that if you do manage to get credit, you’re paying a much higher interest rate than necessary.
The longer your identity is being used for business identity theft, the deeper the hole you’ll have to dig out of. That’s why it’s vital to have monitoring and alerts in place that let you know about the misuse of your personal and business information right away. This allows you to take action to mitigate the damage by contacting creditors, so they know it was a thief and not you who is making charges or opening new credit lines.
How IdentityGuard Can Help Protect You from Business Identity Theft
IdentityGuard gives you peace of mind by actively monitoring your credit and alerting you instantly if suspicious activity occurs. With a highly efficient system that tracks 5 billion public records daily, Identity Guard save you time and hassle with customized alerts and personalized solutions. Contact us today to learn more about IdentityGuard.
Did You Know? Businesses are 15% more likely to be targeted with identity theft than consumers.
Do You Feel Prepared?
Living a digital life isn’t really optional anymore—not when our entire professional, social, and even political lives unfold online.
Even daily browsing can feel like a minefield, but hopefully, you feel better prepared to handle the quintessential threat that’s at the heart of nearly every malware attack today: phishing. Scam artists know how to reel in their victims, even if they’re outside the email pool. So, guard your apps, your social media, your mobile devices, and your browsers well!