Identity Theft 101
December 2006

How do they get your information?

• Stealing mail or going through your trash.
• Spying or eavesdropping on public transaction to get DOB, PIN’s, etc.
• Stealing information from computer databases
• Stealing or hacking a company that stores large amounts of personal info
• Divert your mail to another address
• Steal information from insecure internet transactions
• Phishing – you respond to an email from someone pretending to be a trusted organization
• Spam – responding to spam and giving them personal information
• Spyware - Spyware can be used to covertly gather of confidential information

20 Tips for preventing identity theft

Precautions that were used in the past such as keeping the credit card carbon papers and shielding the ATM when entering your PIN code just are not enough in today's high tech world. While there are no guarantees you will avoid being the victim of identity theft, there are precautions you can take:

1. If you connect to the internet via wireless networks at home or at work, make sure they are encrypted (unless all your data is contained in a secured environment, such as Windows Server).  The web sites you are visiting may be secure, but the data passing on the wireless network is not secure unless it is encrypted, and could be stolen by anyone who can "see" the network.  This means your neighbors, their kids, and businesses in your area.
2. Be suspicious of unsolicited email, particularly if it asks you to enter or confirm passwords, personal or financial information. These emails may look legit, but today’s hackers are very sophisticated and can create emails or website identical to reputable companies.
3. Keep your Antivirus and Spyware software up to date so that it is always protecting you from the latest threats, which can steal your personal information and broadcast it to identity thieves.
4. Look for the "padlock" when shopping online. Websites which are secure display a small gold lock at the bottom of the browser in the status bar.  This lock indicates that the data being passed online is encrypted.
5. Keep your identity to yourself when doing casual web surfing. You don’t need to enter your real name or email unless you are going to make a purchase.  Make it a practice to use an alternate address from Google mail, Yahoo or Hotmail, or even a email address from a service like SurfSpamFree.com
6. Don't make it easy for thieves to guess PIN's and passwords. Use Strong passwords and do NOT use birthdays, pet's names, children's names or personal info that would be easy to guess. Use a combination of letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and symbols.
7. Most debit cards can be used as either debit or credit cards. Use them as credit cards to avoid having to enter your PIN.
8. Shred your trash, or at the very least the pre-approved credit card offers and anything else which might have personal information on it.
9. Don’t ignore pop-up ads on your computer. If you see an increase of pop-up ads, you may be infected with spyware which could be monitoring your activity and sending your personal information to a thief.
10. Check your credit report regularly!  The credit bureaus are required to give you a free copy of your credit report each year. If you see anything suspicious, check it out, have it removed, and report it. You can order your report through www.annualcreditreport.com. 
11. Reconcile your bank and credit card statements promptly.
12. Limit the number of credit cards you have to limit your exposure.
13. NEVER give our personal information out to someone you don’t know.
14. Keep your credit card, ATM and debit receipts safe, and shred when you are done with them.
15. Shred paycheck stubs, old checks, W-2 forms and any other forms that have our SSN on it.
16. Keep a photocopy of all credit cards (front and back), so that you can quickly report them stolen.
17. Don’t give away too much personal information on your family website or genealogy site.  Play it safe and don’t list anyone’s full names or place of birth.
18. Keep your mother’s maiden name private, don’t give it out freely and don’t post it on genealogy websites.
19. Don’t store financial information on your laptop.
20. Place passwords on your bank, credit card and phone account.
     

 What you should do if you're a victim