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Protect your Identity 2008-06
"38 charged in international phishing scheme". This was one of latest news related to identity theft. You may have read or heard of similar news, but didn't understand what it really means and how it affects you.
What is identity theft? The Social Security Administration stats "Identity theft occurs when a criminal uses another person's personal information to take on that person's identity." To the extreme, a criminal can "become you" by using your Social Security number. In other ways, a thief could have stolen your credit card and made unauthorized charges. Here are some of the ways your personal information can be stolen.
- Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
- Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.
- Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.
- Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
- Old-fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.
You can read more at the FTC web-site.
The number of American's that fell victim to identity theft, is well over 10 million. The severity ranges from fraudulent charges on credit cards to severely damaged credit rating. There are many stories, each and every one of them hard to believe.
Protecting yourself from identity theft requires minor behavior adjustments. Follow these 5 steps and you can sleep better at night.
1. Reduce the number of Credit Cards you carry, and check your statements monthly. By matching up every charge you make monthly on each credit card, you will catch fraudulent charges immediately. This includes balancing your bank statements.
2. Do not open e-mails from unknown sources. Even e-mails from known sources should be looked at with care. Phishing has become the latest and fastest method people fall victims to identify theft. A recent article in Business Week highlights the danger faced by corporations, but the same threat applies to us consumers.
3. Verify each month you have paid all your bills (prevents your bills being moved). You should have a regular number of bills each month, gas, electric, water, Cable TV, phone, credit cards. Each month, you should be paying the same number of bills. If you are missing any one of them, find out what happened. Someone may have redirected them to a different address. If you can, use electronic billing and pay your bills on-line. This eliminates someone stealing your paper bills from the mailbox.
4. Buy a cross-cut shredded if you don't already have one. Shred EVERYTHING that has information that identifies you. My pet peeves are the pre-authorize credit cards applications forms; I always shred those!
5. Yearly, check your credit reports. It is pretty easy, free, and takes about 15 minutes. This allows you to check if someone has applied for credit that's not you!
Protecting our identity does take a little bit of work; however, the consequences of not doing so, can make your life stressful.
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