For Cindy Shogry-Raimer, vice president and director of Community Development at Greylock, fraud is a topic she’s well-versed in. She, and others at Greylock’s Community Empowerment Center, routinely lead discussions on fraud and ways to stay safe.

However, for Shogry-Raimer, she had to take her own advice when she experienced a breach with her personal information.

 “As a certified financial coach, I have been recommending for years that folks do credit freezes on their information at the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Transunion and Experian,” said Shogry-Raimer. “Unfortunately, I procrastinated on following my own advice even though I had been notified that my data was included in a recent breach, and I became a victim of fraud.”

Shogry-Raimer discovered the fraud when she received a letter from Capital One requesting more information so they could process a Business Visa Credit Card that she had not applied for.

“I freaked out, but my coach’s training immediately kicked in,” she said.

Unsure if the letter itself was fraudulent, she visited the Capital One website to find the best contact number. After 30 minutes, she reached the correct department and confirmed that a fraudulent application was indeed in progress. Fortunately, she was able to stop it.

Shogry-Raimer then contacted all three credit bureaus to freeze her credit. Credit freezes are free of charge and are widely considered one of the best ways to protect against costly credit fraud.

She said it took another 30 minutes to place credit freezes and a fraud alert with each bureau, and described the overall process as relatively smooth.

“Each credit bureau treats the process a bit differently, but you’ll need to create passwords or PIN numbers,” she noted. “Just be sure to keep this information in a safe place, because you’ll need it if you ever have to ‘thaw’ your credit to apply for a loan or credit card in the future.”

“I feel safer now that I finally took my own advice as a coach and will admit that I was extremely lucky to stop it before it became a costly and even more time-consuming fraudulent situation,” Shogry-Raimer said. “Don’t procrastinate –freeze your credit profile now since it is not a question of if your information will be used, but when.”

To learn more or to freeze your credit, please see the below information on all three credit bureaus:

Experian:
www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
888-397-3742
Experian Security - Freeze
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion:
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
800-916-8800
TransUnion
P.O. Box 160
Woodlyn, PA 19094

Equifax:
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze
888-298-0045
Equifax Information Services
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788

To enhance your fraud awareness and or to  access Greylock’s financial wellness resources, visit www.greylock.banzai.org/wellness.