More than half of millennials would rather have nude photos leaked online rather than their financial information stolen.
A May 2015 survey conducted by Braun Research found that 62 percent of millennials, those between the ages of 18 and 35, believe financial fraud is a more difficult obstacle to overcome than leaked nude photos.
University of Memphis student Trey Johnson learned the hard way how financial fraud can linger.
“My social security card number was taken a couple of years ago and someone was using it on their tax returns with me as a dependent,” Johnson said. “The government found out since my parents were using my social security number as well and had to prove I was their child and a bunch of other things. To this day I have to keep a check on my financial information to make sure no random credit cards pop up on my credit information.”
Te’Quita Shipp, a head teller at Trustmark National Bank, explained how fraud could negatively affect someone’s life.
“It can be very inconvenient, especially for the average working person,” Shipp said. “They have to take time out of their day to fill out the paperwork to get the money back. Honestly, financial information leaking can be more detrimental depending on how much information is stolen.”
The process that people have to go through when their financial information is stolen can take a great deal of time before the stolen money can be retrieved.
“First we place alerts in the account, and then cancel the card,” Shipp said. “Then we have to let each transaction clear the account. Usually after clearing the account more information is available like phone numbers and locations. Then an affidavit is done. It usually takes anywhere from three days to a couple of weeks depending on if the purchases can be proven fraudulent.”
Although many would not like for their financial information to leak, it happens regularly, according to Shipp.
“We just issued over 700 new cards this month,” Shipp said. “It’s a pretty common problem.”
Tish Brown, a Wal-Mart customer service manager, didn’t realize how quick someone could steal her financial information.
“I was at Chili’s restaurant during my lunch period. I ordered the sampler that cost $9.38, and I handed my card to the waiter and went back to work,” Brown said. “Later on that day when I tried to pull money off my card, it declined. My waiter stole $400 in 20 minutes. Later I found out her used it to pay his car note and tried to make an online order.”
Brown then had to go through the tedious process of getting her money back.
"I had to file a police report and call Wal-Mart home office to get my money from my pay check that was on my Wal-Mart pay card,” Brown said. “It took about two full weeks to get my money back.”
Though having her information stolen wasn’t easy to handle, Brown disagrees with the study. She’d rather go through the process again than have her nude photos leaked online.
“They are on the internet forever,” Brown said. “I would rather go through a few weeks with no money than a lifetime of nudes on the internet.”
