Week 3: Identity Protection and Financial Security

Review your accounts this week. Make sure your contact, banking, and deposit information is accurate and unchanged. 

Identity theft can happen to anyone.

In 2025, people reported losing $15.9 billion to fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), up from $12.5 billion the year before. Text messages were the most common way scammers made contact. Colleges are targets too: criminals go after financial aid, refunds, and paychecks. The good news is that the strongest protections are free, and checking your accounts regularly helps you catch fraud early. 

 

 How Criminals Target Our Community 

Who  What to watch for 
Students  Fake “financial aid help” that charges a fee or asks for your FSA ID. Texts saying your refund is on hold. Scholarship “wins” that require a processing fee. Messages saying your account is locked. 
Faculty and staff  Emails or calls asking you to confirm or change payroll or direct deposit details. According to the FBI, criminals use fake sign-in pages to steal employee credentials and then redirect paychecks to their own accounts. 
Everyone  Account takeover: criminals use stolen or reused passwords to break into email, bank, and shopping accounts, then change the contact details so you don’t get alerts. 

 
Free Ways to Protect Your Identity 

  • Check your credit reports. All three nationwide credit bureaus let you check your report from each one for free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com. Look for accounts or inquiries you don’t recognize. 
  • Turn on account alerts from your bank and credit card companies for purchases, withdrawals, and changes to your contact details. 
  • Use strong, unique passwords and MFA on your email and financial accounts. Your email is the key to resetting everything else. 
  • Keep your FSA ID private. Only you and your family can complete your FAFSA, and it is always free. Never share your FSA ID with anyone, including companies or consultants. 
  • Shred documents with your Social Security number, account numbers, or financial details before you throw them away. 

 
Credit Freeze or Fraud Alert? 

Both are free, according to the FTC. Here’s how they compare: 
 

  Credit freeze  Fraud alert 
What it does  Blocks access to your credit report, so criminals can’t open new accounts in your name.  Tells businesses to verify your identity before opening new credit. It does not block access to your credit report. 
Cost and credit score  Free to place and lift. It doesn’t affect your credit score.  Free. 
How long it lasts  Until you lift it. Lift it temporarily when you apply for credit.  One year, and you can renew it. Identity theft victims can get an extended alert for seven years. 
How to set it up  Contact each of the three bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  Contact any one of the three bureaus. That bureau notifies the other two. 

 
Protect Your Paycheck, Aid, and Refunds 

 Students 

  • Check your financial aid and refund information by signing in to MyCCRI directly, never through a link in a message. 
  • Never pay anyone to fill out your FAFSA or to “guarantee” a scholarship.  

Faculty and staff 

  • Never enter your CCRI username and password on a page you reached from an email link about pay, benefits, or taxes. 
  • Treat any request to change direct deposit information with suspicion, especially if it’s urgent. Confirm it with Human Resources using contact information from the CCRI website. 
  • If you handle payments or payroll for your department, confirm every banking change by phone, using a number already on file. 
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