If someone attempts to use or uses your name, account, or other personal information in an authorized manner, they have perpetrated ID theft. The truly astounding figure is that, according to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately seven percent of the entire population has been targeted and fraudulently embezzled of funds and credit by identity thieves.
1. We teach our children to beware of strangers, but we need to be careful around our family, too.
The saddest part is that most of these thieves are people we know or have done business with. They are not strangers like the waitress at your favorite restaurant or your doctor’s receptionist. Family and friends have more access to our personal information than almost anyone else, especially in times of crisis. Increasingly, complaints have been filed against siblings, cousins, and even parents who use or attempt to use their family member’s personal information to obtain lines of credit or just flat out steal from them.
We would like to think that they all have our best interests at heart, but sometimes people get desperate and do things they normally would not… like steal your identity. It is important that you keep all of this information locked away safely so the average family visitor cannot access it. This includes destroying any of the offers you receive in the mail for lines of credit and credit cards.
2. Be sure to protect your personal information at all costs.
There are only a handful of times you will ever need to give out your social security number. If you are conducting a transaction that is not required by law to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, you do not need to give out your social security number. Financial transactions that are subject to taxation will need this number as per the rules set forth in the Federal Customer Identification Program. This means that the everyday doctor’s visit is not the time or place to give out your social security number. Yes, they are increasingly asking for it, but you do not have to provide it.
The Privacy Act of 1974 requires any government agency- be they local, state, or federal- to inform you how your information is going to be used and the authority that requires it. If someone asks for this number and cannot tell you how it is going to be utilized, you do not have to give it to them.
3. Protect your children from identity theft, too.
This is one place no one perceived such a threat, but statistics show that children are between thirty-five and fifty-one times more likely to become victims of ID theft than adults. It is sad but the moment they are issued a birth certificate and social security card, they can become a victim. The worst fact is that these types of identity theft are even harder to detect early because no parent thinks to monitor their child’s credit history as a toddler. Again, here is where the perpetrator is probably someone you know. Sadly, twenty-seven percent of this type of fraud is done by family or friends.
With a little common sense and by steadfastly protecting your own information, you will greatly reduce your chances of being a victim of ID theft.
Everybody is signed up with some kind of social network these days. They just don’t realize the digital footprint they’re leaving behind. That’s exactly what identity thieves are looking for. Having said that, I think identity theft will soon be on the rise. It’ll be more than 7%.
We take a lot of things for granted. We fill up forms with our personal information. We don’t even bother to ask what’s it for. I think it’s time we ask.
We should all be careful with our social security ID. If there’s no need for it, we should just leave it at home.