Kroll Fraud Solutions Blog – A Dialogue on Data Security

Imagine, you purchase a new house, or rent a new apartment, and are excited about your new home. But how would you feel if, when you contact the utility companies to connect new service at your place, you find out that the gas company will not provide service because there is an account, unfamiliar to you, for which you are being held liable. Or, you are applying for a home improvement loan, and are denied because there is a utility collection account associated with you that has been reported to the credit bureaus. Not only can an outstanding debt with a utility company prevent you from obtaining services through them, or other utilities, it can prevent you from obtaining other types of credit too.

Do your frontline employees know what rules apply to your business? Have they been trained to understand consumer rights afforded by federal laws? If not, could they be giving your customers bad advice?

Victims of identity theft related to an existing account often experience confusion, anxiety, fear, and a host of other very emotional reactions. So when customers turn to the entity that issued the account (financial institution or utility provider, for example) for advice, it is a major moment of truth – if the customer receives compassion and helpful, accurate direction, the positive aspects of the event are amplified. If, however, the customer receives bad advice, the negative impact will quite likely be very severe, to the point that the customer may simply terminate the relationship. Taken in those terms, the time spent training your frontline employees – those most likely to be the first point of contact with customers with an alleged account theft or identity theft – makes perfect business sense.