Preventing Identity Theft
Do you think you know just about everything there is to know about identity theft by now? Turn on one of the 24-hour news channels and one of the myriad methods used to cover the latest computer hack of a giant retail chain or bank is twenty minute interview with an identity theft victim. Later that night your local news station is airing the second in three part series about protecting your identity against theft. The next day’s Money section of USA Today features a front page spread offering advice on protecting your identity from the perspective of a former thief. The hidden threat waiting to pounce on you that results from such media saturation of an issue like identity theft is the tendency to let your guard down because you think there could not be possibly any more security and protective advice left to learn.
Those who viewed identity theft as just another unlikely threat oversold by a media desperate to fill the 24 hour news cycle are likely fewer in number today than they were before the large-scale hacks of brand name companies ranging from Target to J.P. Morgan to Sony. Even those who still labored under the delusion that their identity is hack-proof experienced an eye-opening slap in the face upon news that even Apple cannot offer full protection of any information related to your identity you keep on iPhones, iPads or Macs.
The reality can no longer be denied: identity theft is very much a potential reality for everybody in America. Most adults are savvy enough by now to know better than to hand out Social Security numbers to just anybody who happens to ask, but have you ever considered the danger of simply filling out your actual birthday? Your name is your identity, but one you may share with perhaps tens of thousands of other people. You also share your birth date with many others. When you combine those two individual pieces of information about yourself you have succeeded in providing a savvy identity thief with a key that can be used to open up a much greater wealth of data. Just how much many doors to private information about yourself can that key open? It has been estimated that linking a birth date to a name can shrink a pool of potential targets for identity theft who simply share the same name by as much as 90%.
Those looking to gain that kind of advantage into your private life are doing so for reasons ranging from draining your bank account dry to maxing out every credit card in your name to hitching a free ride for health care and prescription medications on the bandwagon that is your health insurance policy. Then there are those who seek to steal a person’s identity not for monetary gain, but revenge. Stealing another person’s identity is a particularly sinister way to malevolently get payback for real or imagined slights covering everything from losing out on a prime parking spot at work to losing a spouse. In a world increasingly reliant on virtual databases holding the kind of personal information that used to be protected by thieves by occasionally patting your backside to make sure the wallet was still there, it can be daunting indeed to imagine how you can possibly protect yourself. Daunting, yes, but not impossible.
Protect Birth Dates
Clearly, it is all but impossible to keep your actual birth date a completely secret, but that hardly means every online entity asking for it actually deserves to get it. Most of the web sites that ask you for your birth date can be lied to. Does Google or Facebook or any one of a number of other social media websites really need to know your exactly date of birth? Of course not. So just lie. they really need a date, give them something easily remember like July 4 of your birth year.
Another simple way to cut your risk of identity theft involves a place where you might think you are completely safe. Your mailbox. Do you ever put outgoing mail in the box and raise the flag? Well, that’s like raising a red flag to identity theft pros. Even though it is a federal crime, today probably over 100,000 residential mailboxes will be broken into. Take the extra time to go down to the post office and save yourself from becoming a victim. Consider investing in a post office box while you’re at it, since incoming mail contains bills with account numbers that can create havoc for you if they fall into the wrong hands. That’s not even to mention pre-approved credit card mailings. With the right information, an expert in identity theft can fill one of these out and embark on a shopping spree without your knowing until the bill arrives for a credit card you didn’t even know you had.
ATM Machines
Many ATMs noticeably bulge outward as a result of a skimming device placed onto it. The protrusion is the result of a fake magnetic strip reader being situated over the actual card reading slot. If the ATM looks different than usual or appears to have an unusual shape or looks just plain bulky, you are probably better off heading down the road to the next closest machine. If the next closest machine is across town, just ask yourself the following question. Do I care more about saving time and conserving gasoline than I care about losing my entire business reputation?
Protect your PIN Numbers
ATM scam artists can steal your identity simply by concealing a camera capable of recording video of your entering your PIN number into the machine. And you know how small cameras have gotten these days, right? If the thieves are particularly sophisticated, they can even place a camera right into the machinery without your ever being aware of it.
Lighted Banks
The truth is that no ATM in the country is completely safe. Crooks would prefer to steal your identity using an ATM far away from crowds, lights and cameras. In other words, it may well be worth the effort to get out of your car and use the ATM inside the self-contained bank lobby rather than the one at the far end of the drive-thru. Even that drive-thru ATM at the bank is probably safer, however, than the one inside a darkened subway or even one inside a well-lit convenience store staffed by inattentive clerks or, worse, clerks whose real paycheck is signed by their identity theft accomplices. is to act as a lookout.
