Prevent Identity Theft
Rule 1 - Get your credit Report.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the national consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to provide you a free credit report every year. You can obtain you free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. For more information on the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Rule 2 - Never give out personal information to people you don’t know.
If somebody ask you to verify or give them personal information through email, chat or any other form of electronic communication don’t give them the information. Here is a list of personal information you shouldn't give out.
Personal Information
Social Security Number
Phone number (home/cell)
Address
Credit Card/Bank PIN
Place of work
Car you drive
If you get a credit card offer, bank statement, credit card statement or anything to do with a financial institution don’t not throw it away, shred it. Anything with account information or personal information should be destoryed with a schredder.
Here is a list of things to shred
Pre-approved credit card offers
Monthly bank statements
Credit card statements
Old credit cards
Old taxes
Step – 4 Don’t carry your Social Security Card.
Your Social Security Number needs to be protected at all times. People are carrying there Social Security Card in there wallet or purse. If your wallet or purse gets stolen criminals have an easy way to open credit cards or bank loans in your name. You should memorize your Social Security Number and keep your Social Security Card at home or in a safe place.
Rule – 5 Never click on links in emails from Banks or Credit Card Companies.
The highest rate of identity theft or fraud comes from emails. Criminals create fake emails that tell you that you need to update your account or something is wrong with your bank account. The email tells you to click on the link and update your information or view the warning. The link takes you to a fake website designed to look like your banks website but it is actually designed to steal your username and password.
To verify the alert information open your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Opera) and use a search engine (Google, Yahoo or Bing) and search the name of the bank the email came from. Click on the link from the search engine results and then login into your account. You should have a warning message on your account when you login.
Rule – 6 Never hit replay or respond to emails from Banks, Credit Card Companies or Financial institutions.
If you get an email from your bank, credit card company or financial institution asking you to reply to the message “Do Not” reply to the message. Ignore the request and call the company directly.
Rule - 7 Don’t give out any Information over the phone.
The second leading cause of fraud or identity theft is social networking. If you get a call from a credit card company or bank telling you that something might be wrong with your account and they need to update your account information don’t give them any personal information. Tell them politely “no thanks” and then hang up the phone.
Look at the back of your credit/debit card and call the customer service number of the back of your card. Tell them you got a call from somebody who claims they were from the bank/credit card company stating that something was wrong with your account and that you want to verify the information. If they tell you nothing is wrong with your account tell them that somebody is calling their customers trying to get information.
Rule – 8 Don’t respond to text messages or call the phone numbers in the text message
*This is new to your list
Over the last couple of months we have started to have cell phone users complain about getting text messages stating information verification need and to call customer service at 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx. The phone number in the text message is not actually your cell phone companies customer support number but a fake number designed to trick you. When you call the number they answer and say this is customer service and they need to verify some information. Actually they are just trying to get your account information or a credit card number. Find the customer service number on the internet or stop at one of the local stores.
Rule – 9 Do not throw your computer away or give it away without destroying the Hard Drive. Your hard drive contains emails, documents and other personal information about you.
To destroy the hard drive manually you will need to smash it or find an industrial shredder to make sure the HD is in several pieces. Internet Safety Center doesn't recommend manually destroying your HD. You should contact a professional.
We recommend Darik’s Boot and Nuke. This is a free utility designed to erase HD to the Department of Defense standards (this process can take 24-48 hours to complete). You can find Darik’s Boot and Nuke at http://www.dban.org/download. Just click on the download option on the upper left hand side.
Rule -10 Enroll in an identity protection service
Companies like Lifelock, TrustID, Equifax and MyFico will setup fraud alerts and monitor your credit report 24/7. They will notify you if anything suspicious if found to reduce the threat of identity theft or fraud. The majority of these service charge about $100 a year to monitor your credit.