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AG Zoeller Advocates For More Credit Freezes To Stop ID Thieves

frankieleon
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/armydre2008/5463888252

The Indiana Attorney General's office is making it easier for Hoosiers to freeze their credit this holiday season.

With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching--and Black Friday after it--Hoosiers will be swiping cards at stores around the state and every swipe offers a chance for identity theft.

Indiana had more than one-thousand identity theft complaints this year, along with 400 reported data breaches.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller says a credit freeze is the easiest way to protect against what he sees as the danger of using anything but a credit card.

“Because a credit card is an insured transaction, so use of cash, use of debit cards, those are higher-risk,” Zoeller says. “Your number one protection is this security freeze that we’re out promoting today.”

Zoeller says the credit freeze can be accessed at any time.

“It actually keeps other people from opening up your credit records and creating new lines of credit,” Zoeller says. “It’s very simple to do, it took me 10 minutes and it’s just as simple to open up.”