7 Ways to Protect Yourself from ID Theft

ID theft: It’s still a Problem

Identity theft is everywhere. Turn on your TV, and you’ll see “special reports” on how to prevent it. Turn on the radio, and hear ads for services pledging to protect you from it. Search for it on Google, and you get 140 million results. In fact, according to a 2013 report by Javelin Research, there is one incident of identity fraud every three seconds.

The Javelin report also shows that the number of identity fraud incidents increased by 1 million consumers in the past year and the dollar amount stolen increased to $21 billion.

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to lower your risk of becoming another ID theft victim.

Don’t over-share on social networking websites

Thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, people are now putting unprecedented levels of personal information online, and many aren’t doing enough to keep it away from would-be criminals. A 2011 Javelin report found longtime social networking users were almost twice as likely as those newer to social networking to become victims of ID theft.

“The Internet has turned into this place where the less-educated consumer will willingly give up information in places where they just shouldn’t,” says Sean Brady, director in the identity management protection group for RSA, an information security firm based in Bedford, Mass.

The good news is you can protect yourself, Brady says. He recommends setting your privacy settings at the highest level and not sharing facts like your exact birth date, including the year, or information that could be used to answer your security questions such as your mother’s maiden name.

Ultimately, Brady says social media users will have to decide how much information they’re willing to disclose and weigh it against the benefits of social networking.

Maintain anti-virus and anti-malware software

Increasingly, identity thieves are using viruses and harmful programs known as malware to steal Americans’ financial information, says Michael McKeown, supervisory special agent, FBI Cyber Division.

These programs can enter your personal computer in several different ways, the most common being email with links or attachments that when clicked on, install malware on your machine. From there, they can record keystrokes to mine passwords, hijack online banking sessions and probe your PC for financial information.

Beside keeping anti-virus and anti-malware software up to date, another way to prevent yourself from being hurt by malware is to keep the financial information on your PC limited, Brady says. He advises consumers to decline every time you’re asked to save your password when you’re logging on to a financial site.

“Malware these days, that’s one of the first areas that it goes to, the location where all that’s kept,” Brady says.

Handle financial documents with care

Physical documents aren’t as much of a threat as they once were, simply because stealing them from a mailbox or the trash can be dangerous work for thieves, Brady says. Still, the key to minimizing the risk is storing needed documents carefully and destroying the ones you don’t need.

“A shredder is your friend,” says Steven Toporoff, attorney with the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.

Certain documents need to be retained for tax and other purposes. “Short of that, you should be shredding documents regularly that you no longer need, especially those that have any kind of account number or identifying information,” Toporoff says.

Also, shred any kind of financial solicitations you get in the mail, especially those credit card offers containing blank checks.

Create strong passwords

In a world where online banking is increasingly ubiquitous and access to large chunks of your net worth is just a username and password away, having a strong password is important.

That’s because once thieves have zeroed in on your email address or account username, they’ll often try to guess your password, either manually or using a computer program to try thousands of passwords until they find the correct one.

To keep from becoming a victim of ID theft, stay away from obvious passwords. “’12345′ is just not a good password,” Brady says. “Everybody has passwords that he can remember — mnemonics or very personal things that are better passwords that aren’t publicly known.”

Incorporate spaces, special characters, and lowercase and uppercase letters. “Whatever your password is, (it) should not be a word that’s found in the dictionary,” he says.

McKeown says using multiple passwords also can limit the damage a thief can do, especially for your online banking accounts.

Be careful with unsecured Wi-Fi

It may be convenient to do online banking at a cafe or to keep your home Wi-Fi network unsecured to avoid typing a password, but criminals have become increasingly adept at intercepting unsecured Wi-Fi communications, Toporoff says.

“You don’t want to do banking or to look up your financial accounts in a Wi-Fi situation where it’s not secure,” he says. “Others who are sitting there with you on the same network conceivably can get access to your information.”

To protect yourself, Toporoff recommends putting a password on your home Wi-Fi network and waiting until you get home or to another secured network to make financial transactions.

Don’t be reeled in by phishing scams

Phishing, or the practice of sending out fraudulent emails soliciting financial information or getting users to click on virus-laden links or attachments, is a growing identity theft threat, RSA’s Brady says.

That’s because phishing emails have grown increasingly convincing, thanks to growing information available to thieves about you to make the emails more persuasive. Brady says consumers are seeing emails, referring to them by name and containing their address, friends and family names or their job stolen from social networking sites and data breaches, known as “spear phishing.”

Brady cites one example of spear phishing as the 2011 data breach at Dallas-based marketing firm Epsilon, where thieves accessed millions of Americans’ email addresses and names.

“That gave the ability … to send personalized emails that have a greater chance of success,” he says.

To avoid becoming a victim, read emails carefully before clicking on links or attachments, especially if an email comes from out of the blue or asks for personal or financial information, Toporoff says.

Instead of clicking on such links, Toporoff recommends contacting the company directly, using contact information you know to be accurate.

H/T Source: Bankrate, Inc.

Identity theft

identitytheftprotection.net

How to Protect Yourself Now

There’s a lot of advice about how to deal with identity theft around these days – some helpful, some unrealistic, and some a little ridiculous. We’ve done the research for you and present the following easy-to-do, indispensable steps. These items should be considered MUST-DOs if you’re serious about minimizing the effect identity theft can have on your life.

1. Don’t leave printed personal and/or financial information lying around at home.
   This is a no-brainer, right? Yet more often than not, identity thieves are friends or relatives of the victim who get their personal information offline – not electronically. Keep checkbooks, social security information, billing information, and anything else a thief could use to steal your identity out of sight and secure.
2. Minimize the risks posed by mail theft.
   Shred bank and credit statements and credit card offers by hand before throwing them away. Even better, get a crosscut shredder. Don’t mail checks from your home mailbox. Instead, drop them off at a U.S. Mailbox or the U.S. Post Office. Also, have new checks delivered to your bank, not your home.
3. Get and review your bank statements electronically.
   View your personal finance statements electronically at least twice a month. By doing this, you will spot a fraud much sooner if it happens. Catching a fraud early minimizes the damage thieves can do and usually results in less time and money spent resolving problems.
4. Subscribe to a service that will provide you with a copy of one of your credit reports and FICO® scores on a regular basis.
   By monitoring your report and your FICO score for any changes you can’t account for, you’ll know if someone has applied for credit in your name.
5. Check and review your FICO scores and credit reports at least once a year.
   When you look at your reports, make sure you recognize all the account information listed. If you see anything you can’t account for, get to the bottom of it as soon as you can. As with electronic statements, checking your FICO scores and credit reports is one of the most sure-fire ways to spot a fraud quickly and minimize any damage done.
6. Avoid giving out your Social Security number whenever possible.
   Your SSN is the key to your credit reports and banking accounts and is the prime target of criminals. Anyone who already has your social security number (along with other information) already poses a risk: your doctor’s office, accountants, lawyers, loan officer, health insurance, schools, courts, etc. Shady employees at any of these places could steal your identity, so be very choosy about to whom you entrust it in the future. Never put your social security number on your checks or your credit receipts. If a business requests your SSN, ask to give them an alternate number (such as a driver’s license) instead and tell them why. If a government agency requests your social security number, there must be a privacy notice accompanying the request.
7. Secure your home computer.
   Install a firewall and buy virus-protection software, and if you dispose of a PC, remove your data with a “wipe” utility program (erasing files manually isn’t the same thing).
8. Be smart about choosing passwords.
   When choosing passwords, assume that someone already has a bunch of your personal information and is trying to break into your accounts. Don’t use the same password for all your accounts. Avoid using your SSN (or even a part of it), you or your mom’s maiden name, birth date, middle name, pet’s name or consecutive guessable numbers for passwords. If you have trouble remembering hard-to-guess passwords, write them down and keep them somewhere secure – hide them in a locked drawer, for example. It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s nothing compared to having your identity stolen.

Signs of Identity Theft to watch out for

1. Unexpected phone calls from creditors.
   If you get a call from a creditor demanding payment for a purchase no one in your family can account for have the caller give you all the information possible and investigate.
2. Strange credit card charges.
   It’s easier to spot these if you keep all your receipts and reconcile them with your statements each month.
3. Getting turned down for credit unexpectedly.
   This is one of the more common ways victims discover they’ve been victimized – don’t be one of them. Subscribe to a service that will provide you with a copy of one of your credit reports and FICO scores on a quarterly basis.
4. Account usernames and passwords or ATM PINs stop working.
   This suggests that an identity thief may have changed your access codes.
5. Missing bills
   If you’re used to getting billed for services you subscribe to and the bills stop arriving, it could mean an identity thief has changed your address in order to use bank accounts without raising suspicion.
6. Strange information in your files.
   If information in a personal file definitely does not match up with you, it could be simply a case of mistaken identity – or it could be more than an innocent mistake. One way to help avoid mistaken identity problems is to use your middle name or middle initial on applications to help distinguish you from others who have the same name.

What to do if Identity theft strikes

1. Call the credit bureaus and get their help.
   
   TransUnion Fraud Assistance Department: 800-680-7289
   Call the number above. In 24 hours or less, a fraud alert will be put on all your credit reports, alerting creditors to call for permission before opening any accounts in your name. Unfortunately, creditors aren’t required by law to pay attention to fraud alerts, so you’ll have to check your credit reports frequently to make sure no new accounts are opened. If you live in California, Texas, Louisiana, or Vermont, however, you do have the right to put a credit freeze on your account – this will stop any attempt to open new accounts in your name. When you get your credit reports, make a note of your account number – you’ll need it when you talk to the agencies. Also, add a victim’s statement to each of your credit bureau reports asking creditors to contact you in person to verify all applications made in your name.
2. Lock thieves out of your accounts by changing all your account access information.
   Change your account passwords to something unguessable. Contact your banks and have them help you obtain new account numbers for all your accounts. Pick a new PIN number for ATM and debit cards. Close all credit card accounts and reopen them with new account numbers. You may want to contact the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 to get a new SSN. You also may want to contact your telephone, long distance, water, gas and electrical companies to alert them that someone may try to open an account in your name. You may need to change your driver’s license number if someone is using yours as an ID – go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new number. Contact telephone and utility companies to prevent an ID thief from using a utility bill as proof of residence when applying for new credit.
3. Report the crime to all relevant authorities.
   Call your local police department. Make sure the police report lists all fraudulent accounts. Give as much information as possible. Get a copy of the police report and send it to the creditors and credit-reporting agencies as proof of the crime. Notify the Postal Inspector if you suspect mail theft. Contact the FTC at (877) 438-4338. Fill out the ID Theft Affidavit at the FTC’s Web site, make copies and send to creditors. The agency also has an online complaint form. While their investigators only tend to pursue larger fraud cases, the FTC does monitor all levels of identity theft crimes to find patterns and breaking up bigger identity theft rings. Notify the Office of the Inspector General if your social security number has been used fraudulently. Request a copy of your Personal Earnings and Benefits Statement and check it for accuracy.
4. Report all fraudulent transactions to creditors.
   Contact creditors for any accounts that have been tampered with or opened without your knowledge. Be sure to put your complaints in writing. Ask each creditor to provide you and your investigating law enforcement agency with copies of the documents showing fraudulent transactions. You may have to fight to get this documentation, but don’t give up. You’ll need these to help track down the perpetrator.
5. Keep a log of everything you do to resolve problems.
   Finally, create a log of all the contacts you make with authorities regarding the matter. Write down each person’s name, title, and phone number in case you need to re-contact them or refer to them in later correspondence.

H/T Source: myFICO

Nine Tips for Protecting the Identity of Your Child at Back-to-School Time

As you’ve prepared to send your child back to school this fall, you’ve likely been hit with a mountain of paperwork for class enrollment, youth sports, and other after-school activities. But as you share your child’s personal information with teachers and administrators, carefully consider how and why the information will be used in order to protect against identity theft.

Because children have a blank slate with no debt or credit history, their personal information is especially valuable to identity thieves.

According to the 2012 Child Identity Fraud Survey conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research and sponsored by the Identity Theft Assistance Center, one in 40 households with children under the age of 18 had at least one child whose personal information was compromised by identity theft.

Even though the number of reported child identity theft cases has increased significantly in recent years, more than 80 percent of parents with minor children say they are largely unfamiliar with child identity theft, according to a third-party study commissioned by Equifax.

1. Before you start filling out forms for your child during the back-to-school rush, consider these nine identity theft protection tips:
2. If you are asked to provide your child’s Social Security number, ask why the number is needed, if there is another way to identify your child, and how your child’s information will be protected.
3. Only carry your child’s Social Security card, birth certificate, or passport when absolutely necessary.
4. Do not provide your child’s Social Security number—or any part of it, like the last four digits—over the phone, online, or in person unless you have initiated the contact.
5. Lock birth certificates and other documents with your child’s Social Security number in a secure location.
6. Dispose of any trash containing your child’s personal information with a crosscut shredder. If old documents with sensitive information have piled up, consider attending a local shredding event, where residents can bring their documents to shred in bulk.
7. Talk with your child about identity theft at the earliest possible opportunity, and create a safe environment with open dialogue so your child feels comfortable asking questions and sharing concerns.
8. Never use your child’s Social Security number to open accounts for yourself. Opening an account with your child’s information and then not paying bills on time could prevent your child from getting credit cards, student loans, an apartment, or a job once he or she turns 18.
9. Back-to-school time could also put you at risk of identity theft if you are sharing your own information. If your child’s school asks for your personally identifiable information as proof of residency, consider asking if the requirement is optional. You may also want to ask if it’s acceptable to provide a utility bill instead of tax information or mortgage documents, as these documents may contain sensitive personal details.
10. Consider a credit monitoring and identity theft protection product that covers your entire family.

Child identity theft can be difficult to detect, and it may go undiscovered until your child goes to rent his or her first apartment or apply for student loans or a credit card. Because it can take years for a child’s identity to be restored once it has been compromised, it’s important to protect your children and family now. Remember to keep personal information safe during the hustle and bustle this fall.

Article Written By: Ilyce Glink
IdentityProtection.com

Avoid ID Theft When Job Searching

Looking for a job? You should also be looking out foridentity thieves.

You want to be thorough on your résumé when you’re looking for a job. But here are a few things you should NOT include on your resume, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. You can provide any of these things to potential employers later in the process if they request that you do so:

• Social Security or taxpayer ID number
• Date of birth; age; sex; marital status
• The year you graduated; your schools’ names
• Professional license number
• Disabilities
• The reason you left a past employer
• Hobbies
• Driver’s license number

How to Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud

Here are a few tips on how to avoid becoming the victim of credit card fraud:

• Periodically review your credit reports. There are three main credit bureaus. Order your credit report from each of them at least once a year. Request copies of your credit report from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. You can also obtain a free copy of your credit report.
• Properly discard documents. Cut up, shred, or otherwise destroy credit card statements, bank statements, pre-approved credit offers or any other documents that contain your personal information. Destroy credit card receipts, too.
• Limit identification pieces. Carry only essential identification pieces in your purse, wallet, backpack, or car. Do not carry your Social Security card or your birth certificate with you unless absolutely necessary.
• Limit the number of credit cards you carry. Try to only carry one or two.
• Memorize your PIN and password numbers. Do not write them down.
• Make and keep copies of account numbers in a secure place.
• Guard your personal information. Don’t give out credit card or Social Security numbers to people you don’t know.
• Do not have your Social Security number printed on your checks or driver’s license