National Protect Your Identity Week (PYIW), sponsored by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), returns for its second year, October 17 – 24, 2009.
This special week was created to bring awareness to identity theft by offering hundreds of educational events, including workshops, onsite shredding, and credit report reviews at various sites around the country. The NFCC also offers information via its website, ProtectYourIdentityNow.org, including identity theft prevention tips, resources for victims, and even an interactive quiz that helps you access your risk of identity theft.
The NFCC is taking these steps to help individuals understand the dangers of identity theft because too many people simply don’t understand the risks associated with the crime. They don’t know that nine million people each year have their identities stolen or misused – or that being a victim of identity theft doesn’t simply mean having your identity stolen, getting it back and going back to business as usual is hard. There are often very serious repercussions associated with this crime, including damaged credit, the inability to get a personal loan, car loan, or home loan – and sometimes even a job. After being a victim, it may take years and thousands of dollars to get back on track.
The damages that identity theft can have on a person is horrifying, that’s why it’s important to understand the repercussions. Lets take a look into some identity theft cases and see the problems that some victims have to face:
Cases of Identity Theft
Linda Trevino of the Chicago suburbs knows all too well how upsetting identity theft can be. Her story, which was originally published in a January 2005 article on MSNBC.com titled “The Secret List of Identity Theft Victims,” describes her experience of being denied a job at a store in her area because she – or her social security number – was already working there. It turned out that her social security number had been used to obtain work at 37 other employers as well as to open various credit accounts. As a result, she found herself in a financial nightmare, being threatened by creditors and the IRS. She was even asked to repay unemployment benefits she received since she was “working” while drawing benefits.
But she’s not alone. A Colorado woman noted in a 2004 WCVB TV-5 Boston story titled “Identity Theft Victim Hit with $85K in Charges” found herself in the midst of identity theft after entering her personal information in an email that was supposedly from her bank. Shortly thereafter, she began receiving charges from various parts of the country that eventually totaled $85,000.
However, possibly the most unlikely victims to be hit with identity theft are children. While many would not consider them to be at risk, more and more children and grieving parents are finding themselves the victims of this unfortunate circumstance. The story of Jeri Marks and her son Gabriel Jimenez in a story titled “Child Identity Theft: A Victim’s Story” found on Bankrate.com tells just what having the child as a victim feels like.
It first started with Jeri receiving a notice from the IRS that her 12-year-old son had filed a tax return. It turns out that his identity had already been stolen and had been used for a while. As a result, Jimenez, 24 at the time of publication in 2007, could not rent an apartment or set up utilities – nor could he buy a car or home – as a result of bills totaling thousands of dollars that had gone to collections and credit accounts.
These cases are just a few of the millions of cases that happen every year. What we read about is only on the surface – but for someone who has gone through or is going through this it is more than losing a credit card or getting a bad credit history, it’s is the stress and the lost of identity to not be able to buy things under your name – which affects your life – that is the most burdensome.
That’s why it’s important to take precautions in order to keep it from happening to you. Here are some tips to consider:
Tips to Protect Your Identity
- Keep track of your bank / credit card receipts - While you may think keeping up with your receipts is no big deal, yours may show your full credit card numbers. So make sure to put it up for safe keeping.
- Invest in a shredder – You may be used to throwing away your documents, but shredding them is a sure-fire way to ensure no one can see your account numbers.
- Watch out for shoulder surfers – Identity thieves are accustomed to checking out pin information at the ATM. So make sure to watch your back when typing in your information.
- Carry fewer cards – The fewer credit and debit cards you carry, the fewer there are to lose.
- Take bills to the post office – If you pay bills by mail, don’t take them to the stand-alone mailbox on the corner. Identity thieves are known for setting up their own boxes to steal mail, so instead take your mail directly to the post office.
- Review your credit report regularly – You can obtain a free credit report once a year. Take this opportunity to review your information to ensure nothing new or unfamiliar is on your report.
- Carry your social security card and driver’s license separately – These two important documents should never be carried in the same place. They will provide identity thieves with a treasure trove of info.
- Work through secure sites – When you enter your account information or other personal details online, make sure you’re working through a secure site (i.e. sites that have secure protocols like “https”).
- Contact creditors when you move – If you’re moving, you should contact your creditors directly to alert them of the address change rather than relying on the change of address form from the post office. You don’t want your bills to end up in the wrong hands.
- Don’t disclose information over the phone – If you receive a phone solicitation from a “collector,” or even a donation request, never offer any personal information.
Identity theft is too serious a risk to take for granted, which is why it’s a good idea to take as many precautions as possible to stop it from happening to you. Taking advantage of the valuable information you can obtain during National Protect Your Identity Week is a great start. With the valuable information about identity theft protection you can continue protecting yourself for the rest of your life.
It’s always better to be safe than sorry, here are a series of ways that you can protect your love ones as well as yourself:
- Guarding Yourself from Identity Theft
- Preventing Identity Theft from Credit Monitoring Services
- Six Steps to Protect Your Family
- Avoiding Credit Card Theft
- Fraud Prevention Tips