Prevent Identity Theft

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a survey showing that 27.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years.  Could you be next?

Prevent access to personal information:

1. Never release your social security or account numbers in response to emails, telephone calls, or personal requests. 
2. Keep all sensitive documents, checkbooks, and credit cards securely locked away at home or at work.
3. Do not carry your social security card, birth certificate, or passport with you unless necessary.
4. Make a copy of any credit cards, your driver’s license, and other pertinent information you carry with you and keep it in a safe place.
5. Carry only the credit cards you need and cancel the ones you don’t use.
6. Make sure to sign all credit cards as soon as you receive them.
7. Shred all documents with any financial information on them.
8. Retrieve mail promptly and place outgoing checks or other sensitive documents in a U.S. Postal Service mailbox.
9. Sign up for automatic payroll deposits.
10. Replace paper bills, statements, and checks with online versions.
11. Keep passwords hidden and change them frequently.
12. Do not use your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, and the last four digits of your social security number or similar information as a password for anything.
13. Use and regularly update firewall and anti-virus software.
14. Do not respond to and delete any suspicious emails. 
15. When distributing financial information, only use websites that contain “https” in the URL header and a padlock icon on your Internet toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
16. Do not discard a computer without completely destroying data on the hard drive.
17. Be careful when using your ATM card or phone card as someone could be looking over your shoulder to get your PIN number.

Detect unauthorized activity:

1. Review bank, credit card, and bill statements weekly.  Most accounts can be  accessed online.
2. Watch for activity on statements of the cards you don’t use or bank accounts you don’t even have.
3. Contact your financial provider if you fail to receive statements in a timely manner.
4. Review your credit information frequently. Watch for unexpected credit drops.  Free annual reports are available

Resolve fraud promptly, minimizing losses and protecting your credit record:

1. Ask your financial provider about zero-liability guarantees against fraud and resources to help you resolve and recover any potential losses.
2. Victims of theft should immediately notify financial providers, begin monitoring accounts more frequently, and place an alert with all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). 
3. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which maintains a database of identity-theft cases.
4. Alert federal and local law enforcement if you suspect or detect identity fraud.
5. You may also need to contact the Postal Inspection Service, Social Service Administration, or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Contact Information

Back to Consumer Tips