Identity Theft
You Can Minimize The Risk
In the course of a busy day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, call home on your cell phone, order new checks, or apply for a credit card. Everyday transactions that you may never give a second thought to are an identity thief's bread and butter. Each of these transactions requires the sharing of personal information: your bank and credit card account numbers; your income, Social Security number and name, address and phone numbers, to name a few. While you can't prevent identity theft, you can minimize your risk by managing your personal information wisely.
Here are some tips to help you minimize the risk.
By managing your personal information wisely, cautiously and with an awareness of the issue, you can help guard against identity theft:- 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 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. If you're planning to be away from home and can't pick up your mail, call the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 to request a vacation hold. The Postal Service will hold your mail at your local post office until you can pick it up.
- Put passwords on your credit card, credit union, 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 who 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, including Affinia, 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 or recycling bins to capture your personal information, tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, 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.
- Don't carry your Social Security 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. To ensure it is accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized. You are eligible for a free credit report from each credit bureau one time per year. (The law allows credit bureaus to charge you up to $9.00 for a copy of your credit report thereafter.) However, if you have been denied credit in the last 60 days, you can also request a free copy of your report.
If You're a Victim of Identity Theft
1, 2, 3 - Do these three things immediately!
1 - Contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus and report that your identity has been stolen. Ask that a "fraud alert" be placed on your file and that no new credit be granted without your approval.
2 - For any accounts that have been fraudulently accessed or opened, contact the security departments of the appropriate creditors or financial institutions. Close these accounts. Put passwords (not your mother’s maiden name) on any new accounts you open.
3 - File a report with your local police or the police where the identity theft took place. Get a copy of the report in case the bank, credit card company, or others need proof of the crime later on.
Information for this article was obtained from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). For more information, visit the FTC Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft
| Equifax | Experian | Trans Union | |
| Address | P.O.Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 |
P.O.Box 2104 Allen, TX 75013 |
760 Sproul Rd. P.O. Box 390 Springfield, PA 19064-0390 |
| Order Credit Report | 1-800-685-1111 | 1-888-397-3742 | 1-800-916-8800 |
| Report Fraud | 1-800-525-6285 | 1-888-397-3742 | 1-800-680-7289 |
