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Information for Better Decisions
Protecting Your Financial Resources
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Identity Theft Main Page
What IS identity theft?
Identity theft occurs when someone finds and uses your personal
information, such as your name, social security number, or credit
card number to commit fraud or theft using your name. Victims
can spend months, even years, recovering from identity theft.
There can be high out-of-pocket expenses related to clearing your
name. You could be denied loans and jobs. Though unlikely, you
could even be mistakenly arrested as a result of crimes committed
in your name.
Desco Federal Credit Union
provides links to various alternate web sites throughout
our site. When you click on a link, you can see that you
have left the Desco web site by checking the address
line in your browser: the address will no longer begin with
https://www.descofcu.org.
Alternate sites are not operated by Desco. Desco is
not responsible for, and exercises no control over the alternate
web sites, nor does it vouch for the accuracy, privacy,
or security of the information on the destination server.
Desco does not represent either the alternate web site
or the user if the two enter into a transaction. Privacy
and security policies of alternate web sites may differ
from those practiced by Desco.
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How does it happen?
Identity thieves use a variety of methods to gain access to data
including:
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They steal your mail (or rummage through
your trash), and use your financial statements, preapproved
credit card offers, telephone calling cards and tax information
to open accounts in your name. Believe it or not, "Dumpster
Diving" is the most prevalent form of identity theft.
They access places that keep records for a large number of
people, such as retail stores, fitness centers, car dealers, schools,
hospitals, and even credit bureaus. Thieves may use the stolen
identities themselves, or sell the information to other criminals.
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They steal your purse or wallet containing
your personal identification, credit and bank cards, and checks.
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They "shoulder surf" (look over
your shoulder) at ATM machines and phone booths in order to
capture your PIN numbers.
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They change your address with the post office
or credit card company to divert your mail or specific statements
to another location.
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They buy your information from other sources,
or pose as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have
a legal right to access your information. This is called "pretexting".
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They find your family information (mother's
maiden name) in public genealogy records.
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They mail you fictitious IRS Forms and fraudulent
bank correspondence in an attempt to obtain your personal information.
This information is used to open new accounts
(credit cards, cellular phone service, checking accounts) or take
out loans in your name. Quite often you don't know what is going
on for a period of time - normally about 14 months - because you
aren't receiving any statements or you haven't checked your credit
report.
A special note about credit
reports
Recently, Congress passed a new law called the Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). This new law requires each
of the top 3 credit reporting agencies to provide 1 free credit
report annually to all consumers. This new law came about
as a result of the proliferation of Identity Theft. To find
out how to order your free annual credit report, refer to our section on credit reports
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Prevention is Key
There are a variety of things you can do to reduce the risk of identity
theft. Think about taking care of your identity on a regular basis,
just like you take care of your health. The collection of ideas
below should help raise your awareness.
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Ask questions. Don't reveal any personally
identifying information until you understand how it will be
used. Don't give out any information over the phone, through
the mail, or on the Internet unless you initiate the
contact.
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Pay attention to security measures when
making purchases on the Internet Does the site encrypt
your transaction information? Those that do will clearly state
their security measures on their site. Look for "https"
rather than "http" in the first part of the URL. The
"s" stands for "secure". Also, look for
a locked padlock icon on the bottom right of your Internet Explorer
browser window, and on the bottom left of your Netscape browser
window. This locked padlock icon is another indication of a
secure site. Click on it and read the certificate.
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Be vigilant about your mail. Promptly
remove your mail after it has been delivered. Deposit outgoing
mail in collection boxes or at the post office, or consider
installing a locked mailbox at your residence. If you're going
on vacation, place your mail on hold.
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Pay attention to your charges and billing
cycles. Is there a charge on your statement that you don't
recognize? Do your statements arrive on time? If not, contact
your creditors. A missing statement could indicate that a thief
has taken over your account and has changed your billing address.
Do not
print your telephone number or social security number on your
checks. Balance your checkbook every month.
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Keep the number of cards you carry to
a minimum. Be sure that access to account information is password secured and 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.
Close inactive accounts.
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Be cautious about where you keep personal
information. Store your social security card, birth certificate,
passport, unused bank cards, and canceled and used checks in
a safe place, especially if you have roommates, hired help,
or are having service work done in your home. File away a list
of all your account card numbers, expiration dates, and phone
numbers. DO NOT carry your social security
card, birth certificate or passport with you. Experts agree
that THE KEY TO IDENTITY THEFT IS OBTAINING A PERSON'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
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Tear up or shred receipts, credit
card offers you get in the mail, expired cards, insurance information,
physician statements, bank checks and statements that you are
discarding, and anything else that may have your personal information
on it. Pay special attention to credit card, check card, and
ATM receipts. They often have your account number printed right
on them! A crosscut shredder is highly recommended.
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Order a copy of your credit report on
a regular basis.Request changes to inaccuracies in writing
and follow up with each credit bureau.
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Remove yourself from marketing lists.
Even though many marketing organizations allow you to "opt
out" of having your information shared with others, you
may want to contact the following organizations.
Credit Bureaus: To stop
prescreened credit card offers from coming to you in the mail.
Identity thieves often "dumpster dive" for offers
that you throw away, secure a credit card in your name, and
have the statements sent to a different address without your
knowledge. "Dumpster Diving" is the most prevalent
form of identity theft.
Department of Motor Vehicles:
Will often sell your personal information for direct marketing
purposes. Not all DMVs do this, and you may not be able to
opt out if they do so.
Direct Marketers: The
Direct Marketing
Association is a trade association of businesses who
advertise their products and services directly to consumers
by mail, telephone, magazine, Internet, radio or television.
Its Preference Services allow consumers to opt out of direct
mail, e-mail and/or telemarketing solicitations from many
national companies. Removing your name from their list will
prevent them from selling or renting your personal information
to other companies as well.
To
remove your name from many national direct mail lists, (e.g.
junk mail) write: DMA Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 9008,
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008.
To
avoid unwanted phone calls, send your name, address, and phone
number to: DMA Telephone Preference Service, P.O. Box 9014,
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014.
- Consider purchasing a credit watch program
that will notify you whenever an account is set up in your
name, or when a change has been made to any of your existing accounts.
Credit watch programs are available through Equifax
and Experian.
- Identity theft insurance is also available
through various insurance companies. It can also be sold as a
rider to your homeowner's policy. The fees vary, and coverage
normally includes legal expenses, loan re-application fees, telephone
and certified mailing charges, notary expenses and lost wages
for the time taken from work to deal with the fraud. Contact your
insurance agent.
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