Identity Theft

"The fear of identity theft has gripped the public as few consumer issues have," said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau, as she addressed a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. It is a fact that the FTC receives an average of 850 calls each week on their identity theft consumer hotline.

Although identity theft is not a new problem, it experienced a surge in practice in the 1990's. This was due mainly to the ample availability of personal information, such as bank and credit card account numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and of course, the Social Security number. Identity thieves are able to take some piece of personal information and use it without your knowledge to commit fraud and theft.

More than half of the calls made to the FTC's hotline were to report credit card fraud, where an account was opened in the victim's name or an existing account was taken over by another person. Other complaints focused on bank fraud, fraudulent loans and utility accounts. Today, there are no restrictions on the use of our numbers. They are used for a variety of purposes, from credit checks to student I.D.s to video rentals, and in most states they are an option for driver's license numbers.

It is virtually impossible to completely prevent identity theft from occurring, but there are ways to minimize your risk by managing your personal information wisely, cautiously, and with heightened sensitivity. Through workshops conducted in the fall, the FTC hopes to contend with this problem. "Heightened awareness by consumers and businesses will help reduce the occurrences of this fraud," Bernstein stated.

Here are some tips from the FTC for minimizing your risk:

• Before you reveal any personally identifying information, find out how it will be used and whether it will be shared with others. Ask if you have a choice about the use of your information: can you choose to have it kept confidential?
• Pay attention to your billing cycles. Follow up with creditors if your bills don't arrive on time. A missing credit card bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your credit card account and has changed your billing address to cover his tracks.
• Guard your mail from theft. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office. Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after it has been delivered.
• Put passwords on your credit card, bank and phone accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.
• Minimize the identification information and the number of cards you carry to what you'll actually need.
• Do not give out personal information on the phone, through the mail or over the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or know whom you're dealing with. Identity thieves may pose as representatives of banks, Internet service providers and even government agencies to get you to reveal your SSN, mother's maiden name, financial account numbers and other identifying information. Legitimate organizations with whom you do business have the information they need and will not ask you for it.
• Keep items with personal information in a safe place. To thwart an identity thief who may pick through your trash to capture your personal information, tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, bank checks and statements that you are discarding, expired charge cards and credit offers you get in the mail.
• Be cautious about where you leave personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help or are having service work done in your home.
• Find out who has access to your personal information at work and verify that the records are kept in a secure location.
• Give your SSN only when absolutely necessary. Ask to use other types of identifiers when possible.
• Do not carry your SSN card; leave it in a secure place.
• Order a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies every year. Make sure it is accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized. The law allows credit bureaus to charge you up to $8.50 for a copy of your credit report.