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Avoid Identity Theft and Credit Fraud From the book by reprinted with permission of the author you can also download this a printable PDF document here |
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Privacy Rights Clearinghouse The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is a great
place to keep up-to-date about ID theft, credit fraud, and other important issues relating to privacy. You can find
them online at http://www.privacyrights.org. |
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A Growing Problem |
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How Vulnerable are You? |
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Social Insecurity You don't have to give your SSN to businesses that request it, although they do have the right to refuse service. Only government agency and employment or tax related inquiries must be answered. Review your Social Security Earnings and
Benefits Statement carefully for errors when you get it. If you haven't gotten one lately, order a free copy by
calling (800) 772-1213. |
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| Credit and Credit Cards Reduce the number of pre-approved offers you get by requesting these credit bureaus remove your name from their lists: Experian (800) 353-0809 Equifax (800) 219-1251 TransUnion (800) 241-2858. Once a year carefully check out your free credit report from Experian (800) 682-7654. If you are denied credit based on your report, the issuing credit bureau must provide you with a free copy upon request - even if they usually charge for it. Destroy all pre-approved credit offers you get in the mail before you discard them. Otherwise, someone can fill out a new address and get credit in your name. When it's time to discard documents which show your financial or legal information, or even your name and address, use a paper shredder. Sign all your credit cards with 'Please ask for photo ID' instead of your signature. For assistance in re-establishing good credit and correcting errors, the non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Service may be able to help you. To find the office nearest you call (800) 388-2227. |
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| Keep Your Hand on Your Wallet Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. If your wallet is stolen or you notice unauthorized transactions, call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately and ask them to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security Number. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. Experian will now allow you to file a temporary fraud alert online and provides you with an instant free credit report afterwards: https://www.experian.com/consumer/cac/25_FCRegistration.jsp File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one). You can also fill out an ID Theft Affadavit at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/affidavit.pdf Call the Social Security Administration and the Federal Trade Commission and tell them that you need an alert put on your Social Security Number. The next time someone tries to use your information, you'll know. Equifax 1-800 525-6285 Experian (formerly TRW) 1-800-301-7195 Trans Union 1-800-680-7289 Social Security Administration fraud line 1-800-269-0271 FTC ID Theft Hotline 1-877-438-4338 The FTC now has an ID Theft website which provides guidelines for victims of identity theft: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/recovering_idt.html |
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| Protecting Your Home Not only is your home full of prized possessions, it's stuffed with information a thief could use to steal yet more from you. Don't make it easy for criminals to find out where you live. Never leave information with your home address anywhere that people can find it-like the glove compartment of your car. Carry your automobile registration papers on you, just like your driver's license. Don't put your home address and phone number on your checks. Use your business address or a post office box number. (For women especially it is a good idea to get a post office box rather than having mail delivered to your home.) |
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| Protecting Your Checks The next time you order checks, ask the bank to put just your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook they will not know how you sign your checks, but your bank will. The check guarantee companies Telecheck (800-366-2425) and the National Processing Company (800-526-5380) can flag your files after a theft to prevent the use of stolen checks. And remember: check guarantee and check verification agencies must provide the same protection as credit bureaus, such as access to your report and correction of errors. If your check is refused, get the agency name and find out what's going on. Most checks are stolen when they are on the way from the bank to you. I print my own checks with VersaCheck. That means I never have more than 3 checks printed at a time, and I know the check numbers. That limits the damage anyone could do by stealing checks from my wallet or my house. The software costs just $19.99 for the personal edition and $59.99 for the home and business version. |
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| Internet and Computer Privacy The internet is a great medium for identity theft. Do not give out confidential information on e-mail or do financial transactions on the Internet except through secure (encrypted) connections. In addition, you need to protect the financial and other data that you store on your hard drive. Use a logon password. Set your computer up so that you have to type a password before it will start. Otherwise, anyone who enters your home can see-and steal-all of your files. Programs like Quicken allow you to create special passwords to protect your financial data. Notebook users should be especially careful to use logon passwords, because a thief can take your whole computer quickly and easily. (I know someone whose laptop was stolen while she was home.) To help prevent attacks by hackers, make sure you use a firewall between your computer and the internet. A firewall prevents any access that you haven't authorized. For those with home networks, most routers and some of the newer cable modems come with built-in firewalls. The Windows XP operating system allows you to add firewall protection to any kind of internet connection. Or you can buy special firewall software to protect your PC. Remove all your personal data before giving away or recycling a computer. Just deleting it may not be enough. You'd be amazed at what can be recovered. Reformatting the drive will keep all but the most determined from getting at your information. If you have really top-secret stuff on there, you might want to pay to have your drive "de-gaussed"-exposed to magnetic fields which will utterly destroy anything left in the memory. To find out more about recycling your computer, consult the National Directory of Computer Recycling Programs: www.microweb.com/pepsite/Recycle/recycle_index.html. You might need help from an expert to follow some of the computer privacy tips-but the cost of hiring one is less than the cost of having someone clean out all your accounts, claim your disability, steal your clients, and read your love letters. |
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All information on this website is believed accurate. All of it is substantiated via publicly available information.
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Also check out other con-artists and liars like Andre Leite Alves of Aware Bear Computers in Rochester New York.