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FREE Identity
Theft Prevention Checklist
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In an earlier section we spent some time discussing the consequences of identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that can impact anyone. The best way to protect your credit and your family is to prevent identity theft from occurring to begin with.
Are you familiar with the expression “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? This is absolutely true in regards to protecting your identity from being stolen rather than dealing with the trauma and cost of being a victim.
The FTC admits the sooner a victim learns about a crime, the more likely they are to recover from it with minimal impact to their credit or personal history. In fact, victims who find out their information is being misused by a criminal within a month’s time were more likely to spend 10 hours or less resolving any issues related to the identity theft. This compared to victims that do not recognize that identity theft has occurred for months on end.
It must be stated here that there are no guarantees that the steps you take will prevent your identity from being stolen. Personal information is available from sources (including government, employment and other business records) that we are not in a position to personally protect.
Taking steps to limit the use of our personal information makes it more difficult to become a target. Proper disposal of personal records and other common sense steps will also thwart any opportunistic thieves.
If you don’t discover identity theft immediately you could spend months or even years repairing the damage to your credit. Fortunately, there are several ways you can protect your identity and credit to reduce the likelihood you will become a victim of any identity crime. In this section, we’ll cover some key ways you can protect yourself from the crimes mentioned in this book. Make sure you follow along closely as we show you step-by-step how you can protect your identity from thieves.
Here are some steps that every individual should incorporate into the management of their personal information. What you choose to implement will depend on how much time or energy you want to use in protecting your information. Making conscious decisions as to how or when our personal information is shared will give us more control and should become a lifelong habit.
Opt-Out Option For Consumers
One easy way to prevent identity theft from happening is to opt-out of automatic offers of credit that often come in the mail. Many thieves secure a credit card under someone else’s name simply by stealing someone’s mail, and then filling out a pre-approved credit offer and changing the address of the offer. You can “opt-out” of these offers, or choose not to receive any more pre-approved offers from each of the major credit agencies however.
This will reduce the likelihood that someone will open a false account under your name. To opt out of credit or pre-approved offers try calling the following numbers:
(888) 5OPTOUT – For opting out of pre-approved offers from Trans Union or Experian.
(888) 567-8688 – To opt out of pre-approved offers generated from Equifax
P.O. Box 919, Allen, TX 75013 – You can write to this address to request your name be removed from Experian’s pre-approved offers list.
P.O. Box 97328, Jackson, MS 39238 – Write to this address to opt out of pre-approved offers from Trans Union.
Don’t worry about getting credit. If you want a credit card from a specific company there is nothing stopping you from applying to them direct. You don’t have to wait for them to contact you by mail. Besides, most pre-approved offers end up in the wastebasket.
Which leads us to our next point. If you do get pre-approved offers you are not interested in, make sure you invest in a good cross shredder so you can shred these documents. You can’t simply throw them away, because most identity thieves steal from places where they know they can find information easily, like the trash can.
Social Security Numbers, birth certificates, passports or any other personal identification should not be carried in your wallet. The same goes for extra credit cards and store or gas credit cards. The less you carry the less risk if your wallet is stolen or lost.
Education
Education is often the best prevention when it comes to identity crimes. One way to stay up-to-date on identity theft trends and cases is by visiting the Federal Trade Commission’s ID Theft Site, located at www.consumer.gov/idtheft
Here you will find all the information you need to protect your identity and your family. You can also find links to important forms like ID Theft Affidavits in the event you become a victim of identity theft. The FTC provides information for individuals and businesses, as well as law enforcement agencies looking to beef up their identity theft protection services.
You should also visit the Consumer Sentinel, an information warehouse of knowledge for individuals, companies and consumers interested in learning more about identity theft. Just visit: www.consumer.gov/sentinel
Here you will find the latest fraud and identity theft reports including those on consumer fraud and identity theft in the States and abroad. You can use this site to find other sites that allow you to file a complaint or to report a potential scam or theft.
Here are some other simple steps you can take to protect your identity and prevent identity crimes from happening to you:
Always shred all documents containing personal information, including your name, address, income or social security number.
Make sure you don’t leave mail in your car or in any other unsecured location where someone can grab it.
Check your mailbox daily and be sure you don’t leave mail in your box overnight.
If traveling out-of-town, have a neighbor get your mail for you or better yet, visit your post office and have them hold your mail for you until you get back.
Request a credit report from each of the three credit bureaus at least once annually. In many states, you can get one free report each year. You can also receive a free report if you are denied credit for any reason. Make sure you review your report thoroughly and question any errors you may see.
Keep copies of important documents including your driver’s license, your credit card numbers and the phone numbers of your creditors so you can call them immediately in the event you lose your wallet or someone steals your purse or wallet.
Make sure if you do lose your personal information, you contact the three credit bureaus and social security administration to place a fraud alert on your account. If you become a victim of identity theft, you can place an extended alert on your account, which will last up to 7 years. You are also entitled to two free reports if you do this.
Report any fraudulent or questionable offers you get to the FTC. You can visit their site and use their complaint form.
Do not click on any links provided in emails that claim they need to verify your account information.
Avoid emails that offer employment for jobs you did not apply for or for jobs that are oversees. Most people can’t get a job unless they have a formal interview.
Keep your PIN numbers and passwords in a safe location. Do not use the same password for all your accounts, because this makes it easier for an identity thief to steal your information. Instead keep a separate notebook and change your passwords frequently to reduce the likelihood someone will obtain and abuse your information.
Now that you have a better idea of how to protect yourself against identity theft, let’s look at some key ways you can also protect yourself from fraud. Remember, fraud and identity theft often go hand in hand, so it is important you are aware of both and how both can affect your safety and security.
Fraud Prevention
Fraud prevention is much like identity theft protection. In fact, many identity thieves first gain information about potential victims by conning them using many different scams. Just as you want to be on the lookout for potential identity thieves, so too do you want to watch out for fraudulent activity or con artist scams.
How do you prevent fraud from happening to you? There are many ways you can prevent fraud from landing on your doorstep. You want to make sure you keep your personal information safe. Fraud takes many different forms. We talked in previous sections about many types of fraud, including lottery scams, advanced fee or loan fraud and even employment fraud.
A great way to prevent fraud from happening to you is simply by becoming more aware of what fraud is and what types of fraud are currently happening around you. If you are aware of employment scams and advanced fee scams, you are more likely to spot one if it comes your way.
Here are some great tips to follow to help prevent fraud from happening:
Never give out your personal information including your name, account number or birth date to an unknown person that contacts you.
If someone call from your “bank” and asks you to verify your personal information, get their name and number, then call your local bank branch and ask if that person works for your bank. Find out if they really need any information from you.
Make sure you report any fraud or con artist scams you recognize to the FTC. This will help them retaliate against thieves and reduce the likelihood that others will fall prey to unruly scams.
Question anyone that offers you a loan or claims you won a prize but requests you pay a fee or give your credit card number as a confirmation of your prize or winnings.
Never offer to accept a check from a foreign national in exchange for part of the money being received, especially if the person sending the check claims to offer you a cut of millions of dollars. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Do not accept a job offer from someone you have never met, or from a company you are not familiar with. You should always meet with a human resources person in person before accepting any job offer.
Make sure you always get the name and contact number of anyone that you suspect of engaging in illicit activity.
If you sell items online, do not accept checks for an amount over the amount of the actual item. Make sure the payment is for the exact amount of the product.
Verify that the seller you are working with is reputable if you shop online or frequent online auction sites. Even legitimate sites, like Ebay.com may be plagued with nefarious con artists.
Don’t Respond to Email Requests
If you are contacted by a bank or service provider through email you must never submit any personal or financial information to them. These attempts to ‘trick’ you into believing they are a legitimate business is called phishing.
If an email claims that you must validate your information and provides you a link to the form DO NOT OPEN THE LINK! If you are concerned that the request may be legitimate close the email and enter the URL to the actual business in your browser window. If your account looks fine contact their customer service department to verify the email. A fraudulent email is called a ‘spoof’ and the company will likely want you to forward it to them.
Unless you initiate a call to a business you should never give personal or financial information to a caller over the phone. Your bank or Credit Card company will not ask for your card or account number if they call you. They have that information on file.
If a caller portrays themselves to be representing a charity or offering a prize or trip you can ask for a phone number to call back. Verify the phone number and hang up. If they are with a reputable organization you will be able to check the number and call back.
Telemarketing scams that ask for credit card deposits, account information or personal information such as your mother’s maiden name, your SSN or other information are common. If you wish to donate it is better to call the organization yourself.
Credit card companies like Visa offer added protection by allowing you to create a password along with the card number when making a purchase. Even if your card is stolen you can prevent thieves from using it by having it password protected.
Don’t give passwords to credit cards or other personal information to friends and family. According to a survey done by www.idtheftcener.org the victim respondents indicated that 43% of them thought they knew the imposter. About 34% were aware that the thief had a history of needing money to support a drug, drinking, gambling or shopping addiction.
Only shop at merchants you are familiar with or contact the Better Business Bureau. Look for secure shopping sites with identifying marks such as https appearing in the browser window or a lock icon appearing below the webpage on your browser.
Never give PIN numbers or passwords to the merchant. Verify your bank statements immediately online or over the phone to check the transaction was made for the proper amount and no other charges were made. Be sure to have anti-virus and anti-spyware programs running and always print out the transaction record, log out and close the browser when completed.
Whenever you are asked for personal information you have a right to know why it is needed and how it will be used. Online you may find that information in a Privacy Policy (read about that in the chapter ‘How to Read a Privacy Policy’).
Limit the use of your personal information by requesting financial institutions not to share your information with affiliates. This is called ‘opting-out’ and the financial institution must allow you to do so. Once you have requested to opt-out, either on the phone or in writing, they must never share your information unless you specifically request they do so.
When you do receive a new credit or debit card sign it immediately and never carry it unsigned.
Don’t save passwords to personal information (such as online banking) in a program that ‘remembers’ your information. Remove cookies from your computer and have your hard drive professionally ‘wiped’ before disposing it.
Use strong passwords – that means a combination of letters and numbers that can’t be easily guessed. Never use information such as your mother’s maiden name or birth date that can be figured out by thieves.
Set your PC browser security settings to Medium or higher. Install a firewall to prevent unwanted access from hackers and install anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. Never download software when you don’t know where it’s from and never click on pop-ups or spam email.
Another great way to prevent fraud, or at least minimize the impact of fraud, is to contact your creditors and lenders and find out what their policies are about fraud and theft. Find out what steps you need to take if you find unauthorized charges on your account.
Many creditors have different policies regarding false charges. Some will reimburse you for the full amount and dispute the claim if you report it immediately. You may need to provide a copy of a police report or an identity theft affidavit to prove your innocence. Your bank may recommend you change your banking information and account numbers to protect your identity in the event you become a victim of fraud or identity theft.
Remember, as long as you follow a few key steps, you can do everything possible to protect your identity and prevent fraud from landing at your doorstep.
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