Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Unknown: Podcast, gotta start again. Loral Langemeier: Hey, this is Laurel. Welcome back to Laurel's real money talks a podcast about money, how you make it, how you keep it, how you invest it, and why a team is absolutely critical to your success financially. So most of the podcast is interviews, interviews with amazing people who do, I think, extraordinary work, not only to make money, but then to support you on a big issue.

And Jennifer laudemachi is with me today. She works in cybersecurity. This woman is at the top of her field, making enormous impact, and she's focusing on something most people don't think about until it's too late, protecting their identity and protecting their personal information. And nothing is more critical in this type of AI and the cyber security scam.

So Jennifer, talk a little bit about your background in like, what gets somebody, I'm assuming, through computer training, and then ends up in cybersecurity. It's, I know a fair amount of you, mainly through our big table. But how did you get into this? Jennifer Lehtimaki: So I have been in cybersecurity for 20 years.

I'm mostly risk management. I have a PhD, but I got into this because businesses are protected. They spend, you know, hundreds of 1000s, millions of dollars protecting themselves. But individuals aren't.

They don't have the resources, they don't have the funds, they don't know who to go to, and identity theft is super common, but it's and it's really disruptive and but it's mostly reactive today. And I wanted to give people a resource that allowed them to be proactive with their personal cybersecurity and their identity protection. And so I started working with people and giving them a proactive option that allowed them to prevent their identity that from happening to happening to them, and give them personal cybersecurity resources so that they could protect themselves, which is, like you said, absolutely critical in today's world with with AI especially.

And by doing that, I have found really my niche, and I absolutely love it. Loral Langemeier: So, Jennifer, talk about, like, just today's environment. You said, you know, you've been doing this for 20 years, maybe take us back to kind of how some of the early stage cybersecurity attacks, where I would assume they're very different than they are today, Jennifer Lehtimaki: absolutely so back in the early days, we had really simplistic kind of attacks, because we had hackers used to have to kind of manually go through things, and it was much slower work.

And so there weren't as many attacks. There weren't as many incidences of identity theft or and hackers really more focused on things that could get them the most money or the most benefit or what they were doing. So I do need theft was more focused on the wealthy or people with higher status, and now, because of AI, really, everyone is a target. Loral Langemeier: So what are some things?

Let's just go straight into it for the people who think that's never going to happen to them. You know, we know identity theft is very common, so talk through maybe how it happens, and speak to them right now, those who don't think it's going to happen to them and what they need to start preventing for start Jennifer Lehtimaki: preventing for? Yeah. So it is really prevalent.

There's millions of cases every year that we know about because tons of cases go unreported. So when your credit card number gets stolen, that's identity theft, that's fraud, and so which is a type of identity theft, so it's way under reported, and because anybody can become a victim, not just the wealthier, high profile individuals, if you have a social security number, if you have a phone, if you have online accounts, if you have social media who doesn't have social media these days, your target.

And what happens is criminals use automated tools, and they get these huge data sets of people's information, and they scan them for. For easy opportunities. So they compare these huge data sets to what's on the internet, and they say this person is a good target, but they because they have all this information on the internet, and by reducing the amount of information that you have on the internet, which is one of the many things that I do to help people with their identity theft prevention.

In they say, oh, this person is a good target. Let's go after them. Loral Langemeier: So when somebody's identity is stolen, you know, what is it? What's it actually look like in real life?

I mean, what do they need to be, you know, worried about, I know you were the one of the first people my, you know, daughter had her vehicle broke into and, you know, some of her things taken. And we were the you were the first one we called say, what do we do now? Jennifer Lehtimaki: Yeah, so it usually starts really small. You might see an unfamiliar charge on your credit card.

You might look at your credit report and see an account that you don't realize. Or you might have your reactive systems that you have in place, like life lock or something like that give you an alert. And some people you know, they might dismiss this, they might say, oh, that's nothing to worry about, but more accounts will be open because they do these first little charges, or these first little accounts to see if you're going to do anything about it. And if you don't, then they'll open bigger accounts and bigger accounts and bigger accounts, and then this little minor thing, all of a sudden turns into all these big, multiple issues.

You'll get fraudulent charges, they'll drain your bank account, they'll open loans in your name, little business loans, or they'll open car loans, or sometimes even mortgage in your name, so your credit score drops really fast because, of course, they're not paying these loans. So because of the way that they get into your like your bank accounts and your credit cards, your bank accounts can get frozen, and your, of course, your credit cards will be locked out. And it means that your everyday life gets interrupted and your your bank account gets frozen.

You can't pay your bills, you can't buy a latte, you know? And so you're spending hours on the phone with banks and credit bureaus. You're filing disputes and affidavits. You're trying to document that you never did something.

You know, how hard is it to prove a negative? So this is something that's not fixed overnight. It can take months. It can sometimes, I mean, it can take years, and then you're monitoring all the time to make sure that something new never happens.

And you have all this stress and this frustration and anxiety, and you feel really violated. You know, you have this constant worry. Is this over? Is anything else going to happen?

And it's, it's not this one call fix, it's this ongoing process. Loral Langemeier: So how long does it take? And maybe give some step by step, the first thing they do when they know that they've been hacked or violated, Jennifer Lehtimaki: the first thing to do is to call me, yeah, yeah. The first thing to do is to call me.

I can help you through it, but depending on what kind of actions have been taken really determine the next steps. If accounts have been open, there's a different step to take than if your bank account has been hacked. Loral Langemeier: And so how recoverable? Like, what are the statistics on recovery if loans were opened?

Like, if you go to the extreme, like you said, how does that all even come back into play? Just takes a while before the loans get dismissed or money's ever back in your account. Jennifer Lehtimaki: It really depends on how they take money out of your account. If money is wired, it's almost impossible to get it back.

If loans are opened, usually they can be dismissed with the proper documentation. But money is wired out of your account, it's it's pretty much gone. Loral Langemeier: What's your opinion then, of using debit cards versus credit cards? Because, I mean, my experience is obviously always credit cards, because the credit card company will defend where the banks using debit cards typically won't.

Are you finding that when it comes to this kind of fraud and identity theft, Jennifer Lehtimaki: it's definitely better to use credit cards. They are much more likely to dismiss charges that are for. Loral Langemeier: Fraudulent. So what's the biggest misconceptions that people have around protecting themselves?

Jennifer Lehtimaki: They don't think it'll happen to them, or they think that if it happens, it won't be a big deal, when, in the other hand, it is a huge deal it happens to them. Loral Langemeier: So I'm going to take editors take a little break. So yeah, I gotta have you answer longer. We're only about 10 minutes, so I mean, a few more questions.

But where do you want to keep going? Want to go into some step by step, leave them with some actions we can, I mean, to go back and see what other misconceptions and just dig into that a little Unknown: bit more. Yeah, we can dig into that a little more. Loral Langemeier: Okay, back, so Jennifer, explain a few more misconceptions about people like and I'll just, I want to, I'm just going to throw this one out.

It just came to me that so many people think that just because they use VPNs, they're going to be, you know, 100% protected. Jennifer Lehtimaki: Oh yeah. VPNs are not going to protect you from identity theft. And also, people VPNs don't really protect you because, although a VPN will make it so that your data is scrambled, it doesn't protect you from someone else getting your information out there.

So what happens is another company gets hacked, like AT and T got hacked a couple of years ago, and there they had every single client they had ever had their information got out. So if you've ever had ATT before, your information is out there, your social security number, your name, the address that you had when you were with ATT, your birth date, that's all in the dark web, and you can't prevent that by having a VPN, and so that happens when any business gets hacked, your information gets out there and gets on the dark web.

And another misconception people have is that having a system like LifeLock, or any other reactive system or product that's going to protect them, and having a reactive product like that is it's great for knowing that something has happened so that you can act quickly and prevent it from getting worse or Getting too bad, but it doesn't do anything to protect you. So unlike my service that is proactive and helps you prevent anything from happening in the first place, they are reactive and are only going to let you know when something bad has already happened.

And then you're in cleanup mode, Loral Langemeier: and again, the cleanup could take years. Jennifer Lehtimaki: Yes, depending on how bad it is, it could take a very, very long time, and you may not even get things back at all. You may not even get back to whole Loral Langemeier: so why is being pro I mean, obviously we know why being proactive is critical, but what's the difference between prevention and cleanup? And you've kept using the words reactive.

So talk about the difference between that that prevention, which you're providing, versus having to do it after the fact. Jennifer Lehtimaki: Sure, so when you're in prevention mode. You are doing you're taking steps to lower your risk. Now.

Nothing is ever your risk is never zero. There's always risk. There's risk in investing, there's risk in walking across the street. There's risk in a plane.

So there's never any you know, there's never zero risk. But when we take the proactive approach, we're taking steps before damage ever happens. So we're relieving high levels of stress and anxiety. We're putting ourselves in a situation where we're in control of what happens to us.

And in contrary, when we are being reactive, we are in cleanup mode, and cleanup mode is where we don't know what's happening. We don't know what steps to take, we don't know where we're going next. We don't know if we're going to be able to clean up and do what we want to do, like, get things back to where we want to be, or back to where we were we are in React. Of mode.

We're trying to get regain control. We're full of stress, we're full of anxiety. We are in we're trying to get things back. We're as when we're in prevention mode and we are in a proactive situation, we are completely in control.

And that mindset shift from in control to, you know, not in control to in control, it really puts us in a better situation. Loral Langemeier: So Jennifer, talk about kind of in if somebody's out, you know, listening right now and taking this seriously. I mean, what are their next steps? Because I would think that, like from getting your driver's license, passport, like those kind of those actually physically taking, not just digitally taking, would be an enormous recovery.

But as important, just because I'm in the you know, money and millionaire making space is your credit once that's that bar damage. Talk about some of that repair as well. Jennifer Lehtimaki: Sure thing so you've got when it comes to your credit this, if this has happened to you, one of the things that you need to do when it comes to your credit is dispute everything and do it with your briefs and documentation that you have not opened these accounts, which, as I said, is very difficult to prove a negative.

So it's not going to be just like a regular dispute where you say, Okay, this, you know, isn't the right amount for this account, you have to prove a negative. So it's going to be a lot more than just a letter to the credit bureaus. It's going to take calls, and it's going to take probably a lawyer to help, and it's going to take a lot of time to have that conversation with the credit bureau. It's not going to be a simple letter that says I didn't open this account.

It's going to take a lot more than that. Loral Langemeier: Go a deeper dive on that one. It's going to take longer that. So you one thing you mentioned is, you know, might take a lawyer.

So there are lawyers that specialize in helping people walk back through this legally. Yes, ma'am. Jennifer Lehtimaki: There are lawyers that help with with credit repair after identity theft. So and there are insurances that you can have that will help pay for those lawyers, Loral Langemeier: and what kind of fees are on the insurance if someone had I'm assuming it'd be cyber insurance.

Jennifer Lehtimaki: Yes, your reactive programs so like such as LifeLock and other programs like those usually include the insurance in the monthly fee. Loral Langemeier: Oh, interesting. So next steps for people that are listening concerned, think, Oh, this is interesting. But again, I would, I would think, just looking at my client base, 80% of people would think this isn't going to happen to them.

Jennifer Lehtimaki: It's gonna happen eventually. It happens to 1/3 of Americans every year, and 1/3 that's millions every year, billions, Loral Langemeier: yes, oh my gosh. Are they mostly international scams? Jennifer Lehtimaki: They are a large portion international scams, and therefore not able for the FBI to really do anything about them.

Loral Langemeier: So when someone works with you, how do you start? I know, like with us, you take access to my computer, you load it up, all sorts of things, which you probably we should come back and do another review of but what is someone you want to expect when they begin the prevention process with you? Jennifer Lehtimaki: Okay, so the first thing that I do is work on reducing your online footprint, and I work on doing a personalized cybersecurity review, so that personalized cybersecurity review looks at your situation.

So are you Laura Lacher, who has this huge business and has tons of people who are involved with her everyday life, or are you Jimmy who just has his couple of investments, his couple of doors, and doesn't have anybody working for him, and just has, you know, his day to day life that he has to deal with, those are very different cybersecurity situations. So I make a very personalized plan and. And we sit down and we implement that plan and and then we step forward. From there, I become your personal cybersecurity concierge, so you can call me anytime that you need me, and Laurel does call me when she meets me, and it's great.

And I love the relationships that I build with my clients, because they do call me when they they need me and and then we go from there, depending on what each individual person needs. Loral Langemeier: And so I know that you're going to offer people to get on your calendar. So talk about how people can follow you get on your calendar. Do with someone on one and see if this is the next step they need to take?

Jennifer Lehtimaki: Yeah, absolutely. So I am offering free consultations. I'll have a link that they can go to to set up a time with me, or they can text me at two to nine or 296388, 96388, so again, for the people who are grabbing a pencil right now, 229-429-6388, Loral Langemeier: and we'll put that in the show notes below. So I would say all of you take some action, get on Jennifer's calendar, let her know you came from our podcast, and just to also acknowledge we just had a big table, which we're in our 26th year of our mentoring and mastermind process of helping people become millionaires.

And we always have a money making competition, of which Jennifer won. So she resonated with the room, because there's a lot of high net worth people in those rooms when I put them on and congratulations on taking it seriously. So many people are scared to make money, and you had no problem, which I've known you, and you never have a problem making money. So it Jennifer Lehtimaki: was a blast.

I had a great time at the big table. It was fun. Loral Langemeier: Yeah, it was it was great. So all of you take this seriously.

Don't have it be the Oh, I heard about it, but I didn't do anything about it. Situation. And get preventative, because if someone is high profile, as I am on the internet, can use this. And I'm gonna say safer, stay in the prevention side and say safer.

Do it? Take advantage of it. And so her number will be in the show notes below. And if you have any questions at any time during my podcast or just to talk in general, go to ask laurel.

com A, S, K, L, O, R, a, l, ask a question, make a request. We'll be back next Friday. Okay?