Identity theft is on the increase, to the tune of 10 million victims in the U.S. and US$50 billion in costs. Share this list of preventive measures with your end users, friends, and family members to help protect them from this escalating crime.
Identity theft, which involves using another person's credentials and personal information (name, address, social security number, driver's license number, credit card and bank account numbers, etc.), is one of the fastest-growing crimes in today's information-laden world. ID thieves usually use this information to access the victim's money, obtain property fraudulently in the victim's name, or distinguish the thief's own identity when committing other crimes.
According to statistics from the US Federal Trade Commission's January 2006 report, the organisation received more than 685,000 complaints of consumer fraud last year, with 37 percent representing cases of ID theft. Estimates of the true number of cases is much higher; fightidentitytheft.com estimates that 10 million Americans have already been victimised, at a total cost of more than US$50 billion.
Luckily, there are things you can do to avoid becoming one of these statistics, as well as ways to minimise the damage if you do become the target of an ID thief.
#1: Shop only secure sites
Some people think buying things online puts them at
inordinate risk of identity theft -- yet those same people think nothing of
allowing a waiter or retail store clerk to whisk their credit card away to some
back office where they could easily record the numbers and information or even
make a "white card" copy of its magnetic strip. The key to safe
online financial transactions is to shop only at reputable Web sites and to be
sure transactions are secured with SSL encryption (which you can recognise by
the little "locked" icon at the bottom of most Web browsers).
One caveat, though: You want to deal with sites that use encryption so someone can't steal your payment information as it passes across the Internet -- but scam sites can encrypt their transactions too. So we're back to the basic: Buying from Amazon.com or the Microsoft Web site is safer than ordering from Joe's Homepage (unless you know who Joe is and that he can be trusted).
#2: Protect your personal information
Online or off, it's not just your credit card numbers that
you need to guard diligently. In some cases, just a name is enough for an ID thief
to gather much more information about you. If you have a name that's common,
like John Smith, it won't be so easy, but if your name is unusual, so that
you're the only one with that name in your particular city or region, an ID
thief may be able to find out your address, phone number, and date of birth
through an online "people search" service, such as Zabasearch.
Then with that information, if you
own your home and live in a county that puts its property records on the Web, the
thief can go to that site and find out how much your home is worth, getting a
good idea of whether you're a good target. Some tax districts even include a
photo of your home, which may show your car sitting in the driveway with
license plate number displayed. Be aware of your online presence and opt out of
as many directories and databases as possible.
#3: Protect PINs and passwords
Make sure you have strong passwords for your online banking
services, electronic bill-paying, and other financial accounts. Don't use
easily discovered passwords such as your mother's maiden name, your social
security number, or your birth date. A good password is long (at least eight
characters; 14 is better) and complex, containing a mixture of upper- and
lowercase alphabetic characters, numeric digits, and symbols and not containing
any words found in the dictionary. PINs are often
limited to four numeric digits. If you have a choice in creating the PIN, make
sure the numbers are random and not easy to guess (for example, don't use your
street number or the last four digits of your SSN).
It goes without saying that you shouldn't write down your passwords and PINs, and you should never share them with anyone else. If it's absolutely necessary to do so (for example, in an emergency situation where you need a friend to withdraw money from an ATM with your card), change the password or PIN immediately afterward.
#4: Protect sensitive data on your computer
If you have any personal or financial information stored on
your computer, use Windows EFS or a third-party encryption program to protect
it. Update your virus software regularly and use a firewall to prevent
intrusions. Keep your operating system and applications updated, especially
with critical security patches. Use an anti-spyware program. Don't use
file-sharing programs or visit Web sites that are more likely to contain
dangerous code, such as hacker sites, porn sites or warez
(pirated software) sites. Don't open attachments from people you don't trust
and don't click on links in strangers' e-mail messages.
Don't put sensitive information on laptops, handheld computers, or other portable devices unless absolutely necessary. If you need to access such data while on the go, store it on a flash drive or memory card and carry the storage device separately from the computer. Don't set your computer up to log automatically, especially portable computers.
If you sell or give away an old computer, first use an overwriting program to get rid of the information on the drive (just deleting or even formatting is not enough), or even better, remove and destroy the hard disk and let the new owner install another one.
#5: Use an alternate identity for casual Web
surfing
Many savvy Internet users have learned that it's smart to
have multiple e-mail addresses and to use an alternate (for example, an account
with a Web mail service such as Hotmail, Yahoo, or GMail)
when you need to enter information to access a site. If you're just casually
surfing and not conducting business, there's no reason to give any site your
real e-mail address or even your real name, address, and other personal information.
Some sites require you to register (at no charge) to access or post to the site. And some of these sites sell the lists of registered users for marketing purposes. An identity thief can easily pose as an advertiser and buy the same list. Having several alternate identities can help you track down what sites are selling your info. For example, Jeff might use the name Jeff Johns when he registers on a site called John's Fishing Gear, and the name Jeff Booker when he registers on a site called the Big Book Place, and use e-mail addresses associated with those names (jjohns@gmail.com and jbooker@hotmail.com, for example). Now when he starts getting tons of spam addressed to his jbooker account, he knows the Big Book Place is the one who sold his info.
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