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.
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 who 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 log-in 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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