Fraud and money laundering may sound like the stuff of James Bond films, but these crimes are impacting real families and businesses every day. Jaime Ramirez has worked in the financial industry for decades, and dedicated the last five years to working specifically with digital identity. He is here to share with us how biometrics & identity confirmation could be the key to keeping “dirty” money out of our banks.

“Dirty” money is the result of illegal activities such as drug sales or terrorism financing. The criminals “launder” it to make it look legitimate and hide the source of the transactions. It definitely takes a creative mind to stay one step ahead of these bad guys!

Cryptocurrency is the new battleground in the fight against money laundering. It’s possible for fraudulent accounts to be created using identity information scammed from victims like you and I. These scammers might ask for a picture of your driver’s license to “confirm” a social security increase - but what they do instead is use it to open an account in your name.

Jaime has several tips that you can follow to help protect your financial security:

First, make sure that anytime you are sharing your credentials or other sensitive information, that you are truly sharing it with who you mean to. Don’t click on links through random emails. Don’t call the phone numbers in those emails, either. Go directly to the verified website and start from there.

Second, keep a close eye on your credit report, bank accounts AND your online shopping accounts. If you see suspicious activity, report it immediately. Don’t let the criminals continue to use your Amazon account because you haven’t noticed!

Finally, we cannot stress how important it is to use a different password for each account. If you use the same email and password all over the place, it’s an open invitation for criminals to hack your identity.

Following these actionable steps will go a long way to protecting your online identity and reduce the chances of fraud or money laundering interrupting your financial peace.

Takeaways from this episode:

1. Fraud and money laundering are crimes that affect people everyday through scams and theft of digital identity.
2. Jaime Ramirez has seen it all during his 30-year career and wants more people to be aware of the problem.
3. To help avoid having your identity stolen, make sure you are always working with the true organization you intend to - and not a scammer pretending to be them.
4. Also, make sure to keep a close eye on all your accounts, and use a different password for each one.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The $1M Dollar Romance Scam:

https://cyber-smart-with-dana-mantilia.sounder.fm/episode/million-dollar-romance-scam

Connect to Jaime Ramirez:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeramirez-/

Learn more about Preventor:

https://preventor.com/

If you'd like to learn more about cybersecurity and online identity protection, you can connect with me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-mantilia/

To protect your company against cyber crime, you can now book me for cybersecurity training:

https://bit.ly/3CtZKzD

To keep your family protected online, learn more about our Identron Identity Theft Protection software:

http://bit.ly/Identron