Compared to the fear a home invasion strikes in people, identity theft seems comparably benign. I’m not sure if it’s the “out of sight, out of mind” principle, or not, but few people I talk with put much concern in having their identities stolen.
Two recent client discussions, may convince you otherwise. In both, real damage was prevented by catching it early, but both situations could happen to anyone.
The first incident involves a break-in at a client’s office. Files from offices weren’t taken, but the personnel filing cabinet was compromised. We all know the information in your personnel files is exactly the information needed to steal your identity.
More recently, a client in a suburb of a large U.S. city had his ATM card information stolen, without losing his card. In this case, tech savvy criminals inserted a micro camera into the card slot of an atm machine, and when he went to make a withdrawal, they not only recorded his card number, but his pin number as well. Later in the day they returned, removed the device, and had all of the information on atm cards used on that day.
Think about it.
In both situations, there was nothing you could have done or known to prevent either from happening. Sure you could avoid atm machines, but that is an unnecessary inconvenience.
Also, in both cases, criminals had access to exactly what they needed. In the break in, they had access to most all of the personally identifiable information they would need to open accounts in your name and potentially run up thousands of dollars in charges. In the second, they wouldn’t need to open new accounts, as they would have access directly to your existing account.
Instead of drastically changing your lifestyle and giving up modern conveniences, here are several easy steps that you can take to protect yourself (in no particular order).
- Monitor your credit – The top issue with having your identity stolen is damaged or ruined credit. By monitoring your credit during the year, you can spot suspicious activity, or accounts you didn’t open. Annualcreditreport.com is a free service and can be accessed three times per year. Schedule reminders, or check in on your birthday, spouses birthday, and Christmas.
- Sign up for alerts – Most major banks and credit card companies offer email or text message alerts when activity happens on your account. I receive a text message anytime a very small amount hits my credit card, or anything over $100. Small amounts are popular with thieves to test the account. If they get away with fifty cents, then $500 will be next. Of course, my wife gets annoyed that I know the instant she buys a song on iTunes, but it’s worth it.
- Go paperless – Sure it’s sheik to go green, but in reality, the less personal information of yours is floating around the U.S. mail system, the better. Unless you are willing to get a special mailbox with a key, this is the next best thing. Most all bank, credit card, utility bill, and investment accounts offer paperless options. I don’t doubt that statements will one day cost say one dollar per month to receive, so why not do it for security reasons now. On a positive note, many investment accounts offer cheaper transaction schedules for paperless clients.
- Be careful online – I highly doubt many regular readers of our site are active on the location based game Foursquare, but I’ll bet many if not most of you are on Facebook. While the vast majority of the privacy issues on Facebook are overblown (in my opinion), there are a couple safeguards to put in place. One is keeping your birthday from being visible to the public. Criminals need more than a birthday, but it is one piece of the puzzle when opening an account. Another is listing details of when you aren’t home that anyone but your closest friends could see.
- Act quickly if you suspect fraud – If you notice something unusual while monitoring your credit, or a suspicious charge on an account, pick up the phone immediately. Either call the bank in question, or if severe enough, contact the credit bureaus directly. You can put a ” security alert” on your credit, which freezes access to opening new accounts for 90 days without prior contact by you, or a longer freeze of up to seven years. Also, if you are about to leave on active duty military service, there is a specific option for you.
If this seems like too much effort, or you might forget to review things during the year, there are services that will monitor your credit for you for a monthly charge. Many also offer insurance designed to pay the cost of cleaning up your credit should your identity be compromised.
Either way, this is a serious, and growing issue, and I hope you decide to do something. As we rely more on the conveniences of cashless transactions, and live more of our lives virtually online, we are exposed to more risks. Take these simple steps to help prevent fraud, or to catch it as early as possible.
photo by Don Hankins
