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It’s summer, peak moving season for military servicemembers and their families. You’ve got enough on your plate without having to worry about identity theft. But the reality is scammers are getting more and more clever with their tactics to swindle members of the military community.

In fact, five years of identity theft data reported to the FTC on IdentityTheft.gov shows that active duty servicemembers are 76% more likely to report that an identity thief misused an existing bank or credit card account. So, here’s the BLUF, the bottom-line up front: Protect your identity by protecting your personal information.

Whether you’re moving, deploying, or simply enjoying your summer plans, protect yourself by following these rules of engagement: 

  • Track your bank account activity. Check to see if your bank offers alerts for every transaction or transactions over a certain amount. Many banks have mobile apps that let you report lost or stolen debit cards and unauthorized transactions immediately.
  • Lock or freeze cards you’re not using. Identity thieves can’t misuse your debit and credit cards if they’re on hold. Mobile apps give you quick access to lock and unlock your cards as needed.

If you suspect identity theft, report it to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov. Help us spread the word by sharing this post using #MilConsumer2022 on Facebook and Twitter.

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Carol farkas
July 26, 2022

It's awful what they do to other people I blast there stuff there fake profiles and tell people on social media to warn everyone can I post this on my Facebook I think it's wrong and I will make sure people knows on TikTok it's really bad thank u very much

Louise Ratliff
July 26, 2022

Excellent! Wish such info was available when spouse on active duty! What do you have for widows of retired?

Ronaldwcrouch
July 26, 2022

Bright,accurate,and to the point.