Bank Account Fraud and protecting our Sailors

[Sierrascrapper (ETN2)]

I recently read on FB that a lot of checking accounts owned by our military personnel are being compromised. My son just turned 18 and leaves for BC in July. We plan to open an NFCU account before he leaves as he's never had an account before. What kind of protections can he put into place now? Should my FS put me or my husband on the account so we can monitor it while he is in BC? Or is a POA sufficient to handle any issues that might arise? Should we also look into the LifeLock service for him? I sure would hate for him to be hacked just as he starts out in life.

[Anti M]

I have NFCU with my husband for over 30 years, it is extremely secure.  Enough so I've been locked out of my husband's account. I  don't use checks or a debit card with it, all direct deposits and pays, I use a credit card which I pay off each month (so it acts like a debit card), and I pay some of my bills with online directly from checking.  I have never had a problem.  I'd be more concerned with how accurate the FB story is.  Can you share it here?

A POA will do.  I've never been a fan of parent/adult child joint accounts, but that's because my husband had an account with his mom and she decided his money was the family emergency fund.  So I'm biased against them.  That, and I think a young person needs to make their own financial stumbles.  Don't worry, the Navy makes them take money classes.  It helps a bit.

LifeLock?  No way.  They aren't what they claim.  Google it, there are many complaints against them.

[Sierrascrapper (ETN2)]

A story related to a national ID theft ring that ocurred this year. Here's the link http://www.idt911.com/KnowledgeCenter/NewsAlerts/NewsAlertDetail.as....
Also, a couple Moms on of the Navy Moms FB site reported problems with their sailor's NFCU accounts being compromised recently.

I would definitely rather not be involved with my son's financial affairs. He doesn't have any obligations yet...I just have concerns. I'm perfectly comfortable with a POA if that will work.

[Anti M]

Thanks for sharing the article.  I think as long as he's careful with his information, he'll be okay.  The info wasn't hacked online, it was physically lifted from paper documents.

collected from apartment lease applications from January to March 2013.

[calliecl]

My son's navy federal credit card had an unauthorized $1900 balance transfer made on the account two weeks ago. Thankfully I monitor the account and he was able to contact the bank and they cancelled the card and transaction. Then this past week his checking account had unauthorized transactions. Again they cancelled the account but were not able to tell him how this happened. He had both cards in his possession, never uses checks (does pay his car and insurance online). We had a POA while he was deployed last year but EVERY time u call e bank you have to fax the POA. He decided after this last few issues to put me on the account. Nnavy federal gave him a phone password for me to use (as an additional security measure). Just much easier for me to monitor as he does not always have phone service or access to Internet while he is on the ship. I know sailors have to be careful with who they allow access to their bank accounts but this seems to be the best solution for him.