Protecting Your Identity: A Former Marine Stands Guard Against Fraud

When Nate Glines did a sevenyear stint in the Marines, he was an avionics technician for a combat aircraft that’s been described as “unlike any in the world.” It’s the V-22 Osprey, which can take off vertically, hover and land like a helicopter. Once it’s in the air, it can be converted to a turboprop airplane that can fly fast and high. As you can imagine, its operational systems are complex.

Glines says he had to train for more than a year before he was allowed to actually work on the aircraft’s avionics, which he did both here in the U.S. and on deployments to Europe and Afghanistan in the years between 2009 and 2014. He would soon qualify as a CDI (Collateral Duty Inspector), which meant he had a huge responsibility: “You’re the last person to sign off before that plane goes to spin up again.”

To make sure an aircraft is ready to “spin up again,” the technicians have to be sure all of the electrical systems are working properly. When an aircraft has a system failure, Glines says, “The question is, ‘Is this one of the aircraft computers failing, or is it a wire leading to that component that’s failing?’ The job was mostly troubleshooting.”

Nate Glines, investigator at Service CU’s fraud department

Glines left the military eight years ago, first taking a job in the call center at Service Credit Union and then, two years later, becoming an investigator in the Service CU fraud department. When asked if he thinks his troubleshooting experience in the Marines helps him in his job as a fraud investigator, he says, “That’s exactly how I view it. It’s definitely how my brain works, things that involve troubleshooting, spotting inconsistencies, or odd discrepancies — that kind of thing. Even though the two jobs couldn’t be more different otherwise, they definitely share that.”

Inconsistencies, discrepancies — that’s what Glines and his fellow fraud investigators look for in their 24/7 work to protect all of the accounts at Service CU. Though their methods of detection are mostly secret, it can be said that their work is aided by computer algorithms that trigger alerts if unusual patterns of activity are seen. Unusual activity can include a new device accessing a member’s account, new check deposit patterns, and logins from suspicious IP addresses. “That’s a recipe for fraud,” Glines says. Once an alert has been triggered, the mission becomes stopping and mitigating fraud — identity theft is the most common — before it happens. The fraud investigators check the information that’s been provided on an application for, say, a loan and check it with external data sources, such as credit bureaus and other online resources. Glines says fraud attempts happen more often than you think: “We catch fraudulent applications every week, if not every day.”

Investigators are frequently in contact with members who are victims of fraudulent activity and compromised information; they educate members on topics such as avoiding scams, the various consequences of fraud, and give advice on how to determine if something is suspicious. Common advice includes topics like being suspicious of unsolicited emails or texts asking for sensitive personal or account information, verifying who you’re communicating with, and other such prevention tactics.

“Scammers are pretending to be someone they’re not, perhaps pretending to work for a company that’s legitimate, and that can be verified,” Glines says. “Go to the company’s website, look up their number and call it. Ask to talk to the person who’s representing themselves as an employee. Just doing that would significantly reduce the number of scams that people commonly fall for.”

Unlike other kinds of fraud, identity theft may not mean you lose money directly. But there is still a cost, possibly a high cost, if the scammer is successful. Glines says, “You might be talking months, sometimes even years, to get all those fraudulent inquiries and lines of credit, loans, etc. removed from your credit profiles. If you’re trying to buy a house, even just rent a place, you’re getting your credit checked. If you have unresolved, unpaid loans, even if you explain it to them, the landlord or mortgage company may not trust what you’re saying.”

The best way to avoid all that, Glines says, is “don’t give out your personal information. You might not get scammed right away, but the more you put your info out there, the more chances it has of being compromised. It’s just a numbers game.” n

Being an avionics technician for the complex V-22 Osprey honed Glines’ troubleshooting skills.