{"id":20851,"date":"2026-09-24T20:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=20851"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:29:23","slug":"dear-family-friends-and-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/dear-family-friends-and-neighbors\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Family, Friends and Neighbors,"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Steven Flagg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have a tale to tell.<\/p>\n

I recently had an experience with identity theft that I thought was worth sharing because I discovered a hole in my own financial security that I did not know existed.<\/p>\n

Like many of you, I have had security freezes in place for years at the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. I assumed that made it pretty difficult for someone to open a new financial account in my name.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t realize is that bank accounts are a different matter.<\/p>\n

Someone recently attempted to open bank accounts using my identity. Fortunately, I received correspondence from the bank and responded before the accounts were actually opened.<\/p>\n

That brings me to the first lesson: open correspondence you receive from banks and financial institutions, even if you don’t recognize the bank.<\/p>\n

We all receive so many credit card solicitations and banking offers that it is easy to glance at an envelope and throw it away. I almost did exactly that. Had I tossed this one without opening it, the fraudulent accounts likely would have been opened. In this case, they operate on a negative confirmation basis. If you don\u2019t respond, they open the accounts.<\/p>\n

Think about the potential mess. Months later, a bank could send you a 1099 reporting interest on an account you never knew existed. Or you get a notice from the IRS informing you that you did not include income on your tax return. Now you have to explain to the bank and tell the IRS that you never opened the account in the first place, and the income is not yours. And that is just one of the things that could happen.<\/p>\n

What I learned is that banks often use consumer reporting services outside the traditional three credit bureaus when deciding whether to open deposit accounts. Two important ones are ChexSystems and LexisNexis Risk Solutions.<\/p>\n

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is the real sleeper. Information here can be used in areas such as insurance, banking and financial services, government benefits and services, utilities, telecom, and background-type information. Order this report and carefully review it! A security freeze at LexisNexis Risk does not shut down every LexisNexis product or every possible use of LexisNexis data as there are some permissible uses that return information such as existing account reviews.<\/p>\n

Both allow consumers to place security freezes on their files. I have now done that, and I think it is worth considering even if you already have freezes at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.<\/p>\n

Here are the official sites:<\/p>\n

ChexSystems<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.chexsystems.com Choose Security Freeze from their consumer options.<\/p>\n

LexisNexis Risk Solutions<\/p>\n

https:\/\/consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com\/freeze<\/a><\/p>\n

The freezes can later be lifted if you actually want to open a new account. LexisNexis specifically states that its freeze is intended to prevent information from being released for certain credit, loan and service applications without your authorization. ChexSystems likewise provides consumers with the ability to place a security freeze on their consumer file. And while you\u2019re at it, ask them to send you reports of the information they have on file about you.<\/p>\n

I’m not trying to alarm anyone. I’m writing this because I stumbled across an exposure I didn’t know I had, and it seems likely that a lot of other people don’t know about it either. And with so many data breaches occurring that we find out about months or years later your information, like mine, is available, or may be in the future, on the dark web for sale.<\/p>\n

What surprised me most is that this isn’t obscure because I’ve ignored security advice; most of the security advice I’ve seen tells you to freeze the three major credit bureaus but says little or nothing about freezing the systems banks use when opening deposit accounts. A quick review of government guidance shows the same gap. IdentityTheft.gov tells victims of fraudulent checking accounts to obtain and review their ChexSystems report but does not recommend placing a ChexSystems security freeze. The CFPB does explain that ChexSystems offers a freeze, but you have to dig into its specialty consumer-reporting information to find it.<\/p>\n

Those who know me know that when I find a pothole, I tend to put up a sign, so the next person doesn’t drive into it.<\/p>\n

So, my suggestions are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don’t automatically throw away mail from a bank just because you don’t do business with that bank. Open it and make sure someone isn’t trying to do business with them in your name.<\/li>\n
  2. Consider putting security freezes on your ChexSystems and LexisNexis files in addition to the freezes you may already have at the three major credit bureaus.<\/li>\n
  3. Request and review the ChexSystems and LexisNexis reports themselves.<\/li>\n
  4. Consider checking a few other specialty systems if you want to go further, particularly Early Warning Services for bank-account activity, especially because it does not provide a security freeze; Innovis as another credit\/identity reporting service; NCTUE for telecom and utility accounts; and other areas that may matter depending on your circumstances, such as employment information.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It takes a little effort now but could save an enormous amount of aggravation later.<\/p>\n

    Take care,<\/p>\n

    Steven Flagg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have a tale to tell. I recently had an experience with identity theft that I thought was worth sharing because I discovered a hole in my own financial security that I did not know existed. Like many of you, I have had security freezes in place for years at the three major credit bureaus: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[366],"class_list":["post-20851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20852,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions\/20852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20851"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}