All About ID Theft
Part I: Special Report to help raise awareness of identity theft
INTRODUCTION
In the course of a busy day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, change service providers for your cell phone, or apply for a credit card. In each transaction, you reveal bits of personal information, like your bank and credit card account numbers; your income; your Social Security number (SSN); or your name, address, and phone numbers – a goldmine of information for an identity thief. Once a thief has that information, it can be used without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft.
Identity theft is a serious crime. If your identity has been stolen, count on spending time and money to clean up the mess the thieves made of your good name and credit record. In the process you may lose out on job opportunities, and loans for education, housing, or cars. You may even get arrested for crimes you didn’t commit.
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Can you prevent an identity theft? As with any crime, you cannot completely control whether you will become a victim. But according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, you can minimize your risk by managing your personal information cautiously.
HOW IDENTITY THEFT OCCURS
Skilled identity thieves use a variety of ways to gain access to your personal information. For example, they may get information from businesses or other institutions by stealing it while they’re on the job; bribing an employee who has access to these records; hacking these records; and conning information out of employees. Or, they may…
• Steal your wallet or purse.
• Steal your personal information through email or the phone by saying they’re from a legitimate company and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as “phishing” online, or “pretexting” by phone.
• Steal your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device in a practice known as “skimming.” They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach a device to an ATM machine where they may enter or swipe your card.
• Get your credit reports by abusing the authorized access that was granted to their employer, or by posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to your report.
• Rummage through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice known as “dumpster diving.”
• Steal personal information they find in your home.
• Steal your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information.
• Complete a “change of address form” to divert your mail to another location.
Once identity thieves have your personal information, they may use it to commit fraud or theft. For example, they may…
• Call your credit card issuer to change the billing address on your account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because the bills are being sent to a different address, it may be some time before you realize there’s a problem.
• Open new credit card accounts in your name. When they use the credit cards and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent accounts are reported on your credit report.
• Establish phone or wireless service in your name.
• Open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on the account.
• Counterfeit checks or credit or debit cards, or authorize electronic transfers in your name, and drain your bank account.
• File for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they’ve incurred under your name, or to avoid eviction.
• Buy a car by taking out an auto loan in your name.
• Get identification such as a driver’s license issued with their picture, in your name.
• Get a job or file fraudulent tax returns in your name.
• Give your name to the police during an arrest. If they don’t show up for the court date, a warrant for arrest is issued in your name.
HOW CAN YOU TELL IF YOU’RE A VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT?
If an identity thief is opening new credit accounts in your name, these accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You can find out by ordering a copy of your credit report from the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. If you have lost any personal information – or if it has been stolen – you may want to check all your reports more frequently for the first year.
Monitor the balances of your financial accounts. Look for unexplained charges or withdrawals. Other indications of identity theft can be:
• Failing to receive bills or other mail. This could mean an identity thief has submitted a change of address.
• Receiving credit cards for which you did not apply.
• Denial of credit for no apparent reason.
• Receiving calls from debt collectors or companies about merchandise or services you didn’t buy.
MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
How can a responsible consumer minimize the risk of identity theft, as well as the potential for damage? When a situation involves your personal information, exercise caution and prudence.
DO IT NOW
• Place passwords on your credit card, bank, and phone accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers. When you open new accounts, you may find that many businesses still have a line on their applications for your mother’s maiden name. Ask to use a password instead.
• Secure personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help, or are having work done in your home.
• Ask about information security procedures in your workplace or at businesses, doctors’ offices, or other institutions that collect your personally identifying information. Find out who has access to your personal information and verify that it is handled securely. Ask about the disposal procedures for those records, as well. Find out if information will be shared with anyone else. If so, ask how your information can be kept confidential.
EVERYDAY DILIGENCE
• Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or on the Internet unless you’ve initiated the contact or are sure you know whom you’re dealing with. Identity thieves are clever, and have posed as representatives of banks, Internet service providers (ISPs), and even government agencies to get people to reveal their SSN, mother’s maiden name, account numbers, and other identifying information. Before you share any personal information, confirm that you’re dealing with a legitimate organization. Check an organization’s website by typing its URL in the address line, rather than cutting and pasting it in. Many companies post scam alerts on their sites when their name has been used improperly. Or call customer service using the number listed on your account statement or in the telephone book.
• Treat your mail and trash carefully. Deposit your outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office, rather than in an unsecured mailbox. Promptly remove mail from your mailbox. If you’re planning to be away from home and can’t pick up your mail, call the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 to request a vacation hold. The Postal Service will hold your mail at your local post office until you can pick it up or are home to receive it.
• To thwart a thief who may pick through your trash or recycling bins to capture your personal information, tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks and bank statements, expired credit or charge cards that you’re discarding, and credit offers you get in the mail. To opt out of receiving offers of credit in the mail that are based on your credit report, call: 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688). The nationwide consumer reporting companies use the same toll-free number to let you opt out of receiving credit offers based on their lists. Note: You will be asked to provide your SSN, which the consumer reporting companies need to match you with your file.
• Don’t carry your SSN card in your wallet; store it in a secure place.
• Give your SSN only when absolutely necessary, and ask to use other types of identifiers. If your state uses your SSN as your driver’s license number, ask to substitute another number. Do the same if your health insurance company uses your SSN as your policy number.
• Carry only the identification information and the credit and debit cards that you’ll actually need when you go out. If your wallet is stolen – or if you lose it – report it immediately to the card issuers and the local police.
• Be cautious when responding to promotions. Identity thieves may create phony promotional offers to get you to give them your personal information.
• Keep your purse or wallet in a safe place at work; do the same with copies of administrative forms that have your sensitive personal information.
• When ordering new checks, pick them up from the bank instead of having them mailed to your home.
CONSIDER YOUR COMPUTER
Your computer can be a goldmine of personal information to an identity thief. Here are some ways to help you keep your computer – and the personal information it stores – safe.
• Update your virus protection software regularly; install patches for your operating system and other software programs to protect against intrusions and infections that can lead to the compromise of your computer files or passwords. Ideally, you should set your virus protection software to update automatically. The Windows XP operating system also can be set to check for patches automatically and download them to your computer.
• Do not open files sent to you by strangers, click on hyperlinks, or download programs from people or companies you don’t know. Be cautious about using file-sharing programs. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program known as “spyware,” which could capture your passwords or any other information as you type it into your keyboard.
• Use a firewall program, especially if you use a high speed Internet connection like cable, DSL or T-1 that leaves your computer connected to the Internet 24 hours a day. The firewall program allows you to stop uninvited access to your computer. Without it, hackers can take over your computer, access the personal information stored on it, or use it to commit other crimes.
• If you need to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for secure). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some fraudulent sites have forged security icons.
• Try not to store financial information on your laptop unless absolutely necessary. If you do, use what experts call a “strong” password – a combination of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols. A good way to create a strong password is to think of a memorable phrase and use the first letter of each word as your password, converting some letters into numbers. For example, “I love Felix; he’s a good cat,” would become 1LFHA6c. Don’t use an automatic login feature that saves your user name and password, and always log off when you’re finished. If your laptop is stolen, it makes it harder for a thief to access your personal information.
• Before you dispose of a computer, delete all the personal information it stored. Deleting files using the keyboard or mouse commands or reformatting your hard drive may not be enough because the files may stay on the computer’s hard drive, where they may be retrieved easily. Use a “wipe” utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive.
• Look for website privacy policies, and read them. They should answer questions about maintaining accuracy, access, security, and control of personal information collected by the site, how the information will be used, and whether it will be provided to third parties. If you don’t see a privacy policy – or if you can’t understand it – consider doing business elsewhere.
A SPECIAL WORD ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS
Your employer and financial institutions need your SSN for wage and tax reporting purposes. Other businesses may ask you for your SSN to do a credit check if you are applying for a loan, renting an apartment, or signing up for utilities. Sometimes, however, they simply want your SSN for general recordkeeping. If someone asks for your SSN, ask:
• Why do you need it?
• How will it be used?
• How do you protect it from being stolen?
• What will happen if I don’t give it to you?
If you don’t provide your SSN, some businesses may not provide you with the service or benefit you want. Getting satisfactory answers to your questions will help you to decide whether you want to share your SSN with the business. The decision to share is yours.
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Bob Louder is the Founder and President of Christian Financial Ministries (www.good-steward.org). Bob is also the author of the new best selling book, “Debt Free Living God’s Way,” available only on the Internet (www.debtfreelivinggodsway.org). Since 1987 Bob has helped people in hundreds of churches all across the country and in the European military community learn, understand, apply and pass on “Debt Free Living God’s Way” principles and practical applications. He has represented some of the top Christian financial authors and ministries to include Larry Burkett, Dave Ramsey, Christian Financial Concepts, and Crown Ministries.
Copyright 2006 Christian Financial Ministries, Inc., All Rights Reserved. You may reprint this “Special Report” in whole or in part without permission from Christian Financial Ministries, Inc. Please credit material used to Christian Financial Ministries, Inc.
