Despite increased media attention and widespread anti-fraud education, Utahns are still falling prey to bank scams and identity theft at an alarming rate. In fact, Utah has lead the country in fraud complaints in recent years.

At St. George Beehive Credit Union, we provide credit union services designed to protect your information. E-Statements are a secure record of your account activity and cannot be stolen from your mailbox. When contacting us online, be sure to use our online secure form which can be accessed from http://www.beehivecredit.com.

Though online fraud is a continual threat for St. George credit union bankers, identity theft is more often committed offline.

A recent Javelin Identity Fraud Survey Report contains some surprising facts about identity theft:

The most frequently reported source of information used to commit fraud is a lost/stolen wallet or checkbook.

Among cases where the perpetrator’s identity is known, half of all identity fraud is committed by a friend, family member, relative, neighbor or in-home employee.

The majority of identity fraud crimes are self-detected.

It is important to review your Washington bank or credit union account activity on a regular basis. Obtaining and reading your credit report can also alert you to problems. Ironically, there are a multitude of credit report scams, so be sure to see http://www.beehivecredit.com for instructions on safely ordering a free credit report from an agency approved by the Federal Trade Commission.

If you haven’t read the St. George Beehive Credit Union fraud alerts on our website, we urge you to do it soon. We hope our members use the valuable information to help protect themselves from identity theft and banking scams.