ID Theft: Are You Protected?
Identity theft is one of the
fastest-growing crimes in the
Mary Rosenberger, senior
risk management specialist at CUNA Mutual, explains that identity theft occurs
when a criminal steals a person's identity -- and their good credit -- without
their knowledge. "The thieves continue to open up new accounts and
obtain new credit cards, withdraw money, and change addresses," Rosenberger
says. And because the bills often go directly to the address supplied by
the thief, the victim isn't likely to uncover the charges draining their
accounts and ruining their good credit until it's too late.
Thieves use many simple
tactics to prey on unsuspecting targets. They lift checks from mailboxes
and dig through wastebaskets and dumpsters looking for credit card receipts.
Often, the thief is someone known to the victim -- a friend, relative, or
roommate, for example -- anyone who has access to bills, receipts, wallets, or
purses. And even when a thief is arrested, it can take 400 hours, or 10
full workweeks, for the victim to straighten out credit, including closing and
reopening accounts with financial institutions and re-establishing credit with
credit reporting agencies.
Rosenberger says that you
can take several steps to make it more difficult for a thief to succeed:
Are you at risk?
Precautions should
be taken very seriously. Identity theft is more than an inconvenience to
those that are attacked. It can haunt victims for years. The
Department of Justice has an Identity
Theft Quiz that you may take to help you understand the full impact of
ID Theft and judge how vulnerable you may be and what you can do to protect
yourself.
Precautions: Order a
credit report
Many times people
don’t realize that they have been a victim until long after the ID Theft has
occurred. One way to be more vigilant and detect theft early is to order a
credit report at least annually from the three major credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian,
and TransUnion.
Until recently, each report had to be purchased separately, but the bureaus have
joined forces and created a combined report that may be ordered from the bureau
of your choice. The combined report not only saves the consumer money, but
it also makes it easier for the consumer to detect fraud. In addition, the three
recently announced that victims of ID theft can now call any bureau toll-free to
report a theft and that the information would be relayed to all three agencies.
Previously, such information had to be reported to all three separately.
When reviewing the
report it is important to:
Precautions: Protect
Your Personal Information
If you receive
pre-screened credit card offers and don’t tear them up, identity thieves could
retrieve the offers and use them to steal your identity without your knowledge.
To opt out of receiving pre-screened credit card offers, call:
1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688). In addition, you can contact the three
major credit bureaus and request that your personal information is not shared
for promotional purposes by writing to:
Equifax, Inc.
Options
Experian
Consumer Opt-Out
TransUnion
Marketing List Opt Out
Contact the Direct
Marketing Association’s to opt-out of direct mail, telemarketing, and e-mail.
For Direct Mail go online at Off
Direct Mail List or write:
Mail Preferences Service
For Telemarketing go online
at Off
Telephone Mail List or write:
Telephone Preferences Service
In addition, you may
register for a state “do not call” list. To see whether one is
available in your state, please see, FTC
Do Not Call.
For E-mail go online at Off
Email List. Your online request will be effective for one year.
There are many resources on
identity theft available on the Internet that discuss prevention as well as what
to do if you should unfortunately become a victim of ID Theft. Here are
two such resources you may wish to see: FTC and Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston.