Safeguard your credit score from fraud

Following the Optus data breach, the federal government has prepared amendments to the Telecommunications Regulations 2021 to better protect Australians from hacks.

Treasury says the suggested changes will improve communication and coordination between telcos and financial institutions when a cybersecurity or fraudulent incident occurs.

But the incidents will keep occurring. And regardless of support by business or government institutions, at an individual level there are simple steps to take to safeguard our data, says Marianella Watman, head of product and marketing at Credit Savvy and creator of SavvyShield.

The special SavvyShield feature, available in the Credit Savvy app, enables users to easily request a free, 21-day ban against their Experian credit file if they are concerned about identity theft or fraud.

A “freeze” on access helps prevent new credit from being taken out in your name by blocking credit checks by banks or other lenders. “Since late September, we’ve seen a 800% increase in Credit Savvy app downloads, with over 50,000 ban requests,” says Watman.

“If you wish to apply for credit, you will need to lift the ban from all credit reporting bodies (CRBs). For instance, if you have a credit file ban in place and want to refinance your home loan, you would need to request the relevant CRBs to lift the bans first,” which Watman explains is an extra yet simple step.

Get back to basics

The Commonwealth AttorneyGeneral’s Department estimates that credit card fraud, identity theft and scams cost Australians $900 million a year. Watman says there are several steps we can all take to protect ourselves. These include:

• Adopt good password protocol. Regularly change your passwords, make sure they are saved in a secure manner and always make them difficult to guess and copy.

• Take care when handling important mail and paper documents. Physical documents can hold valuable and sensitive personal information, so always make sure these are kept in a secure place or disposed of by shredding or fully destroying the document.

• Monitor and track any banking accounts, digital profiles or emails. If you notice any suspicious activity in your accounts, report it to the platform’s customer service team immediately. Genevra Leek