Before I wrote "Six Ways to Avoid Identity Theft" last November, I was always careful to do the typical things you hear about to avoid becoming a victim. I bought a paper shredder, I didn't throw away my receipts, and so on.
After learning that there were 9 million cases of identity theft in 2006, which resulted in an average loss of $6,383 per victim, I realized that there was still a lot more I could do to protect myself. So I signed up for an identity protection program with myFICO, stopped using ATM machines located outside New York City delis, and stopped giving out my Social Security number as freely as I had been.
Five Ways to Stay Safe
What really got me thinking about the issue again, though, is a great new book by Frank Abagnale called "Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan."
You've already heard of Frank Abagnale if you saw the movie "Catch Me if You Can." Leonardo DiCaprio played Abagnale in that film, which is loosely based on the author's early life and shows how he got away with passing over $2 million in bad checks. Abagnale served five years in prison and has since turned his life around, dedicating the last two and a half decades to helping our government and thousands of corporations and consumers deal with the problem of white-collar crime.
Here are five of my favorite tips from his book:
1. As careful as you are, your personal information is out there.
What first blew me away in this book is how truly risky it is to give out your Social Security number. It wasn't that long ago that people wrote their number on their checks -- something you should never do.
In 2006, there were about 230 million Social Security numbers held by individuals. As Abagnale puts it, those are 230 million targets of opportunity for identity thieves. If someone gets their hands on your name, birth date, and Social Security number, that's all they need to become you.
In fact, right now anyone who knows your name can log on to various web sites and access your Social Security number in a matter of seconds. Don't believe me? Check out the NetDetective web site. For $29, an identity thief can use it to pull up not only your Social Security number and date of birth, but also your employer name, salary, and the name of your spouse! Chilling.
Abagnale identifies web sites like NetDetective and others for the sole purpose of education. While there's always a chance that you risk educating potential thieves by sharing such knowledge, people need to know that these sites exist. Because as careful as you might be, your information is out there and readily available -- and believe it or not, it's all perfectly legal. Which leads me to the next point.
2. Don't be so generous with your personal information.
As Abagnale points out, even though your information is readily available, you don't need to hand it over to thieves on a silver platter. Yet everyone seems to want your Social Security number, from the video store to the health club to the dentist.
Why do so many businesses and organizations request this private data? Simple -- because "it's on the form." But just because you're asked for the information doesn't mean you have to give it.
Who does have the right to it? Your employer, the DMV, welfare and tax departments, and institutions that handle transactions involving your taxes, like your bank. If you're unsure, the Social Security Administration recommends that you ask the following questions to anyone asking for your Social Security number:
• Why is my number needed?
• How will my number be used?
• What happens if I refuse to give my number?
• What law requires me to give the number?
For example, when my dentist's office asked for my Social Security number and I said "no," they still cleaned my teeth and took my credit card for payment.
3. Opt out wherever and whenever possible.
The fine print -- it'll get you every time. Whether you're completing an application for a new bank account, credit card, or sweepstakes, you need to read the fine print carefully to find out how to opt out, which means your personal information won't be shared.
Abagnale provides a wakeup call about sharing seemingly harmless personal information without getting a guarantee that it won't be sold or shared. When this happens, he explains, your information enters the public domain and becomes fodder for the ever-expanding information industry. And you have no way of knowing what's in these information files, which soon become permanent.
So try this. Log on to your bank's web site. Chances are that if you scroll all the way to the bottom you'll see a "Privacy" or "Privacy Statement" link. Click it and read what your bank's privacy policy is. It should provide instructions on how to choose not to have your personal information shared -- that is, to opt out. If so, protect your privacy and opt out today.
4. Monitor your credit automatically.
Anyone who's read up on identity theft knows that it's absolutely critical to check your credit report regularly. But Abagnale goes a step further by recommending that you subscribe to a credit monitoring service.
To that end, he's behind the development of a program called PrivacyGuard that provides unlimited copies of your entire credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. This service notifies you within 24 hours whenever someone applies for credit in your name. There's a monthly fee of $12, but like insurance, it's a small price to pay for peace of mind and protection.
When I subscribed to the identity theft protection service at myFICO, I didn't give much consideration to the fact that it only monitors one of the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion), or that its email fraud alerts can take as long as a full week to be sent. (In fact, when I recently applied for a new credit card, I didn't receive an email alert at all. Granted, it may have been caught by my spam filter -- something to be aware of.)
Take Frank Abagnale's advice and make sure your credit monitoring service looks at all three credit bureaus and sends fraud alerts within 24 hours.
5. Write your congressperson.
There's a bill called the Social Security Number Misuse Prevention Act that, if passed, would prohibit the sale and display of Social Security numbers and limit their use by government agencies and businesses without the consent of the individual.
The bill would prevent the government from posting Social Security numbers in public records on the Internet. It would also restrict a business's ability to require that customers provide their Social Security numbers, and would prevent them from requiring the number when consumers purchase goods and services.
Finally, it would authorize the Social Security Administration to issue penalties of up to $5,000 against anyone who misuses a Social Security number, and a thief who uses someone's number to assume their identity could get up to five years in prison.
Let your voice be heard. Find out who your state representative is and how to contact him or her in order to let them know you want this bill passed
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