Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

I’m wanted in four states…got my new driver’s license and a sweet new pickup. V8 baby – 500 horsepower…and the best part is, it’s all free, yeah, for me at least.

Recognize these words from a popular commercial? It’s one of a series of ads promoting a new service addressing identity theft at a major bank. The viewer is immediately captivated by the words, coming from an older lady as she cleans her pool, but spoken in the rough-sounding voice of a thug. The thug finishes with a ghoulish laugh, as the words “Ruth F., Identity Theft Victim” flash on the screen.

Identity theft. Should you be worried about it? You may have seen a brochure from your bank, or an article in a current magazine warning you about privacy risks in an increasingly technological society. But did you read them?

Maybe you did after seeing the series of commercials mentioned earlier. The ads effectively convey the message that no one is safe from identity theft. Victims include people of any age, socioeconomic status and race.

The fastest-growing white collar crime

Identity theft is the fastest growing white collar crime in the United States. A survey commissioned by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that an estimated 27 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years. Ten million occurred in the last year alone.

Identity theft is a serious crime that has caused victims to spend months or years—and lots of money—to clear their name, correct erroneous information and clean up their credit record.

Although identity theft victims are usually not liable for the debts the thief has incurred, they often lose job opportunities, are refused loans or housing. Some have even been arrested for crimes they did not commit.

This is why the FTC has chosen the theme Identity Theft: When Fact Becomes Fiction as their focus for this year’s National Consumer Protection Week, February 6-12.

According to the FTC, identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information, such as your name, Social Security number ( SSN), credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

How does this happen?

It doesn’t seem possible, but it’s easier than you might think. If an identity thief can obtain your personal information, he or she can use it to call your credit card issuer and change the mailing address on the card, open a new credit card account or bank account in your name, drain your bank account, take out a loan, even buy a car or a house.

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, thieves obtain your SSN, driver's license, credit card numbers and other pieces of identification, in a variety of ways, which include:

• "Dumpster diving" in trash bins for unshredded credit card and loan applications and documents containing SSNs.
• Stealing mail from unlocked mailboxes to obtain newly issued credit cards, bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, investment reports, insurance statements, benefits documents, or tax information. Even locked mailboxes may not stop a determined thief.
• Accessing your credit report fraudulently, for example, by posing as an employer, loan officer, or landlord.
• Obtaining names and SSNs from personnel or customer files in the workplace.
• "Shoulder surfing" at ATM machines and phone booths in order to capture PIN numbers.
• Finding identifying information on Internet sources, via public records sites and fee-based information broker sites.

Protecting yourself

These actions will help prevent thieves from using your identity:

• Minimize the amount of information a thief has access to. Don’t carry more credit cards than you need to, don’t carry Social Security cards, birth certificate or passport.
• Don’t carry other items with your SSN on them unless you need them that day.
• Reduce the amount of personal information that is “out there.” Remove your name from marketing lists of major credit card bureaus, opt-out of the sale or sharing of your information when offered to you, sign up for the FTC Do Not Call Registry.
• Never give out your SSN, credit card number or other personal information over the phone, mail or internet unless you initiated the contact and you have a trusted business relationship.
• Order a copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three national credit bureaus.
• Ask about information security procedures and safeguards at your workplace.
• Place passwords on your bank, credit card and phone accounts, but don’t use options such as birthdate, pet name, maiden name, or last four digits of social security number.

Are the businesses you work for or shop at exposing you to a risk of identity theft?

This handy online checklist will help you evaluate whether your employer, the enterprises you do business with, and the businesses you patronize take all the important steps to reduce the risk of identity theft among their employees and customers.

If you do become a victim

If you fall victim to identity theft, take immediate action. Right away, contact the fraud units for the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. As of April 2003, if you notify one bureau, it will notify the other two. Ask the agency to flag your file with a fraud alert.

The FTC suggests you take the following initial steps:

• Place a fraud alert on your credit report and review your credit report.
• Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
• File a report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place.
• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Click here for identity theft resources

by Karen Blass, UNH Cooperative Extension Family & Consumer Resources Educator, Rockingham County.