College Students: How to Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves
Every fall, as millions of students get ready to head off to college identity thieves lie in wait for them. Already significant targets, college students comprised more than a third of all identity theft victims last year. Identity thieves frequently target college students because they seldom take protective steps, because of the large number of individuals with access to their personal information, and because an increasingly aggressive credit card industry bombards them with free offers and easy-to-obtain credit cards.
Todd Davis, the CEO of LifeLock, the nation's first identity theft prevention service for consumers, offered us these tips for parents and college-bound students to help protect them from becoming victims of identity thieves.
1. Purchasing and using a shredder is a must. Shred everything which can identify you before discarding it. Everything...no exceptions.
2. College students generally share housing and live in close proximity to lots of other students. As a result, many people are in and out of their living areas, including people they may not know well. Therefore, to protect against identity theft, students should not leave identifying documents where they can be easily found, and should password protect important information on their computers.
3. Parents, have your son or daughter order a free credit report, and check it for problems. You can get one free report a year, and resolve any problems you identify.
4. In the most recent three years, more than two hundred universities, colleges, school districts and student lending organizations have lost personal information on nearly 9 million students, faculty, and staff. Despite increases in institutional security, social security numbers and other critical identifiers are lost or stolen at a steady pace. Thus, it makes sense to take steps to make sure you have protected your identity in the event your information becomes vulnerable to identity thieves.
5. Opt out of all junk mail, as soon as possible. Identity thieves can steal credit card offers from your mailbox or garbage (if you fail to shred), fill in the applications with your name and their address, and charge thousands of dollars of goods and services to you. It happens every day.
6. You can contact the major credit reporting services to initiate fraud alerts which means you will, at least in theory, be contacted before anyone is able to open a new account in your name. You must renew these alerts every 90 days, or you can hire a credit protection service to take care of it for you. Some such agencies will actually compensate you if anyone successfully steals your identity. One agency offers a guarantee of up to $1 million.
Taking a bit of time and exercising some caution to prevent identity theft is well worth the effort. Protect yourself by being cautious, aware, and alert.
Todd Davis, the CEO of LifeLock, the nation's first identity theft prevention service for consumers, offered us these tips for parents and college-bound students to help protect them from becoming victims of identity thieves.
1. Purchasing and using a shredder is a must. Shred everything which can identify you before discarding it. Everything...no exceptions.
2. College students generally share housing and live in close proximity to lots of other students. As a result, many people are in and out of their living areas, including people they may not know well. Therefore, to protect against identity theft, students should not leave identifying documents where they can be easily found, and should password protect important information on their computers.
3. Parents, have your son or daughter order a free credit report, and check it for problems. You can get one free report a year, and resolve any problems you identify.
4. In the most recent three years, more than two hundred universities, colleges, school districts and student lending organizations have lost personal information on nearly 9 million students, faculty, and staff. Despite increases in institutional security, social security numbers and other critical identifiers are lost or stolen at a steady pace. Thus, it makes sense to take steps to make sure you have protected your identity in the event your information becomes vulnerable to identity thieves.
5. Opt out of all junk mail, as soon as possible. Identity thieves can steal credit card offers from your mailbox or garbage (if you fail to shred), fill in the applications with your name and their address, and charge thousands of dollars of goods and services to you. It happens every day.
6. You can contact the major credit reporting services to initiate fraud alerts which means you will, at least in theory, be contacted before anyone is able to open a new account in your name. You must renew these alerts every 90 days, or you can hire a credit protection service to take care of it for you. Some such agencies will actually compensate you if anyone successfully steals your identity. One agency offers a guarantee of up to $1 million.
Taking a bit of time and exercising some caution to prevent identity theft is well worth the effort. Protect yourself by being cautious, aware, and alert.
About the Author:
Daniel Z. Kane is a university dean who advises students on online college degree programs and online degree programs.
posted by Credit Counseling at
8:17 PM
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