Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft

The unfortunate reality of the world we live in is there are many evil people. Identity theft is one of the many results of these evil people. Although many times identity theft is unavoidable due to negligence on the part of a business losing your information. Financial scams have been around for many years, identity theft has been around for a while as well but lately it’s publicity has increased. There are no companies such as Lifelock who’s business service is the protection of your identity. Yet with so much publicity you would think cases of identity theft would decrease. You would be wrong, incidents of identity theft have been increasing in the last few years and it’s important to protect yourself not only through actions but through education.

Scams To Obtain Your Information
Many of these scams are old yet people still fall for them every day. Be cautious in answering emails, Internet advertisements and even letters for things such as:

• Free Prizes – You receive an email or letter claiming you have won a prize. This scam will often ask you for information such as account numbers, address information, sometimes even a credit card number. As the 10 week mark elapses you still have no prize at your door, but you are missing a few hundred from your checking account and you have mysterious charges on your credit card.
• Investment Opportunities – Be it an investment in a small business or an investment in a real company. Most often this type of scam can be referred to “pumping” as the scam artist sends hundreds of thousands of emails to people, those people in turn purchase the penny stock causing a rise in the price of the stock. The company in reality is worthless and may be doing poor but the scam artists makes an increase in his stock since he purchased shares early on. An Alternative investment opportunity to watch out for is any email that includes a link to your financial account or investment firm. Through security vulnerabilities it is sometimes possible for a scam artist to access your account if you login through a specially crafted link. Once you login to look at a prospectus you inadvertently give them your information. From that point they can cash our your investments or 401k. Since 401k’s are not insured you stand to lose your money.
• Account Representative – Sometimes scam artists are very bold and go an extra mile to call you. They will call you and claim to be from your financial institution or from a credit agency. When you call a company it is not uncommon for them to ask you for your information in an attempt to verify your identity. What happens is the scam artist will call claiming there is a problem with your account, “But first Mr Johnson, I need to verify that I am speaking to the correct person. Can you please verify your address, date of birth and social security number? Ok thank you Mr Johnson, now I am calling regarding account number XXXX. Oh, Can you verify the correct account number for me then? Oh, I’m terribly sorry Mr. Johnson there seems to be a mix up and nothing you should be concerned about. It must be a computer error on our part. Thank you for your time.” Without thinking about what just happened you turn back to the television or that book you’ve been reading and forget what just happened.

Preventative Measures

There are certain actions that you can take to better safeguard your information. Although these are not a complete guarantee you will never be subjected to identity theft, they will surely help you avoid being a victim by the majority of scam artists.

• Clean up – You may have a pile of documents and bills you clean out of your office once per month or even semi annually. What do you do with them, Do you just toss them in the trash? Any papers with personal information should be shredded. A decent shredder can cost you anywhere from $30 - $50 and can be purchased at Walmart or any office supply store. I have a box sitting next to my filing cabinet labeled shred. Every few weeks we shred everything including credit card offers.
• Verification – NEVER give out personal information to anyone calling you on the phone that claims to be a representative of your account. Always ask for an extension and call back the phone number listed on their website and ask to be transfered to that extension. If you feel more comfortable many businesses have a store front in your town that you can go talk to a person face to face.
• Use Good Passwords – As a Security Engineer I see many passwords during testing of system security. It’s sad, but some of the most common passwords are names, birth dates, the last 4 of a social security number and foot ball teams. It is important to choose a password that has a complex combination. Personally I use pass phrases. For example I would create a pass phrase; “I love the new bmw m6 series” and convert that into a password using a combination of characters, numbers and symbols. My password would turn into “1<3tNbM6”. That password is virtually impossible to crack or guess unless you give it to someone. Furthermore, your mind will say the phrase internally as you type it thus it is harder to forget.
• Credit Check - By law, you’re entitled to a free copy of each of your three credit reports once a year. Request these free copies from Equifax (800-997-2493), Experian (888-397-3742) and Trans Union (800-888-4213) once a year and review for any credit transactions that don’t look right. You can get your credit report on the Internet by visiting http://www.creditreport.com

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