A former Caddo lawman says everyone wants your money. Here's how to stop them from taking it. (2024)

In 2022, Lt. Alan Davidson retired from the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office. Three days later, he started in his new role as Vice President over Bank Security at the now Bonvenu Bank.

He says he is dealing with just as many bad guys now as he was as a deputy.

Consider the cyberattacks and data breaches that have happened to date in 2024: 73 million current and former AT&T customers, 560 million Ticketmaster customers, and 49 million Dell computer customers.

If you have a Louisiana driver's license or Real ID card, your information could have been stolen because of a security flaw in MOVEit, a company that provides file transfer services to thousands of government agencies and other organizations.

All those can be added to a National Public Data breach that was discovered at the end of 2023 but continued into 2024 and is possibly the largest ever at 2.9 billion records. Those records, according to National Public Data, have been found for sale on the dark web.

Data stolen in that breach include your name, email address, phone number, social security number and mailing addresses, everything a criminal needs to be "you."

Was your info stolen? Check and see.

If your information was compromised, Davidson says you should first freeze your credit.

"If someone were to go in and apply for a credit card or car loan or any kind of loan," Davidson said. "You'll be notified, and it won't be approved."

You will still be allowed to use your existing credit cards and make normal payments.

To apply for a credit freeze, go to one of the three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion.

You will need to freeze your credit at each agency separately, but this can be done online. Anytime you wish to apply for a new credit card or loan, you will have to temporarily unfreeze your credit.

Yes, it is a little work, but worth it, Davidson said. He also suggests getting a credit freeze even if your data hasn't been compromised.

"My advice to everyone is don't wait until something happens, take initiative, take action now," he said.

"Put a freeze on your credit, monitor it regularly, keep personal information close, don't share it with anyone on the phone."

Cyber security companies also warn that people with access to your social security number can steal your social security benefits, open bank accounts in your name, file your tax return and use online payment methods like Cash App and Venmo to transfer money out of your accounts.

To prevent those things from happening, create a social security accountat the Social Security Administration website.Connect any payments, like those to Venmo or other apps to your bank account, not to a debit card. Davidson says it is easier to dispute bank account payments.

Monitor your bank accounts, credit accounts and investment accounts.

Davidson says that he sees a lot of fraud that is accomplished the old-fashioned way.

"Sometimes it's not the data breach. We do it ourselves. People call on the phone to get information from you and a lot of people just give it out," he said. "Once they give it out, they realize 'uh-oh.'"

Davidson said at present, credit card misuse is his biggest work-related issue, however, you can protect yourself by not giving out any personal information over the phone, as well as using these other tips:

• Keep credit cards in a safe place and don't carry all of them with you.
• Use strong passwords on online accounts and change them often.
• Use multi-factor authentication even though it takes a few seconds longer.

"Just like everybody else," Davidson said, we all think "It's not me, it won't happen to me. You cannot be complacent."