Identity Theft: How to Protect Yourself

1. Identity Theft:How to Protect Yourself

2. Identity Theft • Identity theft defined: • the crime of obtaining the personal or financial information of another person for the purpose of assuming that person's name to make purchases. • Identity theft statistics (2010): • 8.1 million victims • $37 billion total costs • Average out-of-pocket costs $631 • 26 million records exposed through data breaches • “Friendly” fraud is up – the victim know the thief

3. How does it happen? Identity thieves might: • Steal mail from your mailbox. • File a change of address form in your name to redirect your mail.

4. Other identity thief tricks They might: • Steal pre-approved credit card applications from the trash. • Go “dumpster diving” for bank statements or cancelled checks. • Steal wallets and purses.

5. What information do you share? • Have you: • Signed up for a loyalty card program? • Ordered a pizza at your home? • Given your phone number to a cashier? • Participated in a sweepstakes? • Donated to a charity and given your address and phone number? • Registered a product warranty? • Signed up on Facebook or MySpace?

6. Most identity theft is low tech, but there are high tech methods: • Phishing – An authentic-looking e-mail that directs you to a web site to “update your information.” • Pharming – “Hijacking” web domains to the thief’s own sites to gather personal information. • This can occur in 2 ways: • directly on users' computers • on domain name servers that resolve web site addresses for users

7. Phone Scams How this happens: • Someone pretending to be from the government contacts you. They ask for personal information for a legitimate reason (i.e., census research). • Someone contacts you asking for a donation to a fictitious charity.

8. Data Breaches • Personal information from a business or organization data base. • More than 155 million data records lost or stolen since 2005. • Over 3 million from college and universities • No notice required if data are encrypted • How? • Hackers • Accidental postings of personal information • Stolen/lost laptops and data storage devices • Employees steal data

9. Twin Wi-Fi Hotspots • Hacker creates a hotspot with the same (or similar) name as a legitimate hotspot – at airports, coffee shops, etc. • Users connect to the hacker’s hotspot instead of the legitimate one • Hackers collect personal information

10. How to Protect Yourself Mail: • Put outgoing mail in secured mailboxes -- U.S. Postal Service mailboxes or the post office. • Monitor your mail. If a bill or statement doesn’t arrive on time, find out why not. • Buy a shredder. SHRED all billing statements and pre-approved credit card offers.

11. How Prepared Are You? • True or False: • I use a computer with a firewall. • I don’t have a password or pin that is based on easily available information. • I shred all documents with personal information on it. • I never give out my SSN unless I initiate the contact. • I use a mailbox with a lock on it.

12. How to Protect Yourself Banking: • Have new checks mailed to a P.O. Box or pick up them from the bank unless you have a secured mailbox. • If you get an e-mail or phone call asking you to update your banking records, do not give out personal information. Call your bank yourself.

13. How to Protect Yourself • Check out e-mails before answering. Never open an e-mail attachment unless you expected it or know what it contains. • Never click on a web link in an e-mail. Check it out by opening a new browser window and typing in the URL. Watch that the URL doesn’t change when the site comes up. Check out e-mail scams at www.snopes.com.

14. How to Protect Yourself • Don’t use easily available information (mother’s maiden name, birth date, the last 4 digits of your SSN or phone number, or consecutive numbers) for passwords and PINs. • Pay attention to announcements about data breaches. • Learn what legitimate hotspot web pages look like. Don’t send sensitive information through public Wi-Fi networks.

15. How to Protect Yourself: • Credit Freeze: puts a lock on access to your account. • $3 in Georgia for each credit bureau • Unless you are 65+ or a victim of identity theft • Credit “thaw” within 15 minutes: $3 • Some companies aren’t affected by the freeze • Insurance companies • Existing creditors • Law enforcement agencies

16. How to Protect Yourself: • Identity Theft Prevention Products • Life Lock • Loud Siren • Many more! Check to make sure they are legitimate

17. Monitor Your Personal Information • Check your credit card statements and bank records for unfamiliar transactions and report them. • Check your credit report! Visit www.annualcreditreport.com • If you must give out personal information via phone, do so in a secure area. You never know who could be listening.

18. Reporting Identity Theft If you think your identity has been stolen: • Contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies to create a fraud alert with all three: • Equifax: 1-800-766-0008 • Experian: 1-888-397-3742 • TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289 • Close accounts that have been tampered with. • File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. • File a report with the police.

19. Other Tips for Reporting Identity Theft • Act quickly! • Keep a record of all conversations. • Keep copies of e-mails. • Make a copy of all documents you send and use certified mail.

20. For individual help contact: The Peer Financial Counseling Program (insert web address, phone number, and/or e-mail)

21. Special Thanks to...