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How to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

Statistics – Federal Trade Commission

• In 25% of identity theft cases, the victims know the thief !

• Most identity theft cases start in the workplace. 70% of cases are an inside job carried out by a co-worker or an employee of a business you patronize. In fact, a large percentage is stolen by the business owner.

• The average amount thieves spend in their victim’s names is $10.200.

• Types of Identity Thefts

• Credit Card Fraud 26%           

• Phone or Utilities Fraud 18%           

• Bank Fraud 17%

• Employment-Related Fraud 12%  

• Government Documents Fraud 9%

• Loan Fraud 5%           

Reducing Your Odds

• Your Wallet should only contain the credit cards you need. Avoid carrying your Social Security card, your birth certificate or passport, except when necessary.

• Offer a driver's license or other ID instead of a Social Security number.

• If companies use your Social Security number as part of your account number or ID card, request that the number be changed. Threaten to close the account, if the company will not comply. On privacy options, request all financial firms not trade your personal data.

Buy a Crosscut Shredder

• Dispose of all credit card bills, offers you are not interested in, business communication – anything with important information on it.

• If you going away, have either the post office hold your mail or a trusted friend collect it. Never leave your mail exposed, it is a sure way for criminals to gain your vital information. Your mailbox should have a lock on it. Just one credit card offer that is stolen can lead to disaster.

• If you bank online, change passwords each month to protect yourself. Don’t choose obvious names for passwords (birthday, nickname, pet name, mother’s maiden name, the last for digits of you social security number, etc.). Use a combination of letters and numbers to create unique passwords. And don’t use the same password for many accounts. This will probably require you writing down your passwords, which should be kept under lock and key.

• Keep credit card information of your computer’s hard drive and store it on CR-RWs away from the computer. This way if hackers gain entry into your computer, they can’t steal that information.

• Use a Major Free Mail Site (Yahoo.com, etc.) that has a good spam filter to eliminate trouble ahead of time.

• If you browse online through many sites, use firewall, virus and spyware protection software that you update regularly. Only download free software from sites you know and trust.

• Federal law entitles you to one free credit report per year. Get it twice a year and review it for any inaccurate information, or transactions that you did not authorize. Call (877) 322-8228 or go to www.annualcreditreport.com. Confirm all persons and entities that have requested or received a copy of your report.

• Each month review all credit card charges, bank charges, etc. Thieves may make small charges over time to avoid detection. Statistics show that when victims don't discover identity theft activity for more than six months, 45 percent of the time criminals have opened new accounts in their name. Nearly half of those victims are charged at least $5000.

Protect Against Phishing

• Never click on an e-mail link that appears to come from a bank, brokerage or online retailer. When the email announces it is contacting you because the “company” suspects that your account has been interfered with, do not respond to a website, no matter how legitimate it appears.

• Instead, call up the institution in question and ask to speak with the security fraud department. Legitimate institutions never request that you offer vital information in this way.

Never Click on an Email Attachment Unless You Know the Person Who Sent It

An attachment may contain a virus to infect your computer and destroy valuable records and files.

Never Click on an Image (Picture) Unless You Know the Person Who Sent It

• The image could contain spyware – computer software that secretly tracks your keyboard strokes and sends the information to criminals. Remember the thieves will show an image of a low-price item, or a sweepstakes entry to fool you.

• When you click on the image, the spyware program will be secretly loaded onto your computer. If you suspect this has happen to you, have an expert install anti-spyware software and run a thorough diagnostic on your machine.

Do Not Enter Sweepstakes, Contests, Etc.

These are ways used by thieves to collect information of unsuspecting people.

Utilize Credit Card Services – Most Credit Card Companies Offer

• Monitoring Services – that will call you if any suspicious activity is detected (and they usually guarantee you credit fraud protection with zero liability).

• Electronic Alerts – that you can customize, such as:

• Notify me immediately by email if my account is charge over this amount of dollars.

• Notify me when my payment has posted.

• Notify me if my account balance is within this amount of its credit limit.

Resources

Federal Trade Commission online ID Theft complaint (consumer.gov) or call 1-877-ID-THEFT
Disputes may require a sworn statement and police report. The FTC also offers a form affidavit, which can be used for the sworn statement at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/affidavit.pdf.

U.S. Department of Justice ID Theft kit: www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html
www.consumer.gov/idtheft/federallaws.html#statelaws  - a list of state laws, which vary by state

Free annual credit report (annualcreditreport.com)

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (privacyrights.org)

Identity Theft Resource Center (idtheftcenter.org) - has a 17-step plan if your ID is stolen

Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov)

United States Postal Inspection Service (usps.com)

www.idtheftcenter.org

Credit Bureaus

Equifax                     1-800-525-6285            www.equifax.com

Experian                  1-888-397-3742            www.experian.com

TransUnion             1-800-680-7289            www.tuc.com

© 2009 Five-Minute Stress Relief - All Rights Reserved

Sources: The Identity Theft Resource Center (www.idtheftcenter.org) How Identity Theft Strikes Equifax Resources (http://learn.equifax.com/identity-theft/how-identity-theft-happens)

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