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Identity theft - Techniques help prevent Airmen from becoming victims

  • Published
  • By Maj. James S. Bruce
  • 317th Airlift Squadron
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  People who think identity theft can't happen to them might want to think again.

Last year the Federal Trade Commission received more than 250,000 complaints from people claiming to be victims.

The top four forms of identity theft are credit card, utility/phone, bank and employment fraud.

Damages from these forms of fraud topped $1.1 billion. The median loss was about $500 per person.

Identity thieves use a variety of methods to gather personal information. Those methods include:

· Shoulder surfing - Listening or watching from a distance as a person speaks into or enters personal information into a cell phone.

· Dumpster diving - Digging through trash for personal information, such as bank statements and credit card applications.

· Skimming - Downloading information from a credit or debit cards with a portable scanner.

· Pretexting - Contacting a credit bureau or financial institution and falsely claiming to be someone else in order to obtain financial information.

Some identity thieves steal information on the job.

For example, one U.S. attorney prosecuted several bank employees for selling credit card holders personal information for as little as $15 dollars per account. In other instances, employees working in credit bureaus, doctor's offices and car rental agencies sell an individual's personal information at a minimal price.

"There is very little that an individual can do to prevent insider jobs, or cases where the social security account number is stolen from a database," said Jay Hoofnagle, deputy counsel for the electronic privacy information center. "There are, however, things people can do to prevent random identity thieves from stealing personal identification information."

Thieves only need a few tidbits of personal information to create a false identity and ruin a person's credit history. They can do a lot of damage if they have credit card numbers or social security numbers. However, in some cases, they may try to steal an identity with just a name, address and telephone number.

The following suggestions may help prevent identity theft:

· Take care when giving personal identification information, such as social security numbers.

· Remove labels attached to home magazine subscriptions before throwing them out. Some labels contain personal information that could lead to identity theft.

· Only give out personal information over the telephone if initiating the call and the other party on the phone is known.

· Purchase a shredder to destroy documents that contain personal identification information.

· Keep track of bank statements to see if someone has gained access to accounts and made unauthorized transactions.

· Ensure banks, merchants, insurance carriers, loan companies, safe-deposit box locations and other financial institutions have current telephone and address information on file. If correspondence stops without a good reason, contact the company to make sure someone has not changed the address.

· If recently divorced, call banks, insurance carriers and other institutions to ensure ex-spouse does not inadvertently do something that affects finances or credit.

· If making purchases over the Internet, consider using one credit card with a low credit limit for all purchases. Some companies offer one-time use, credit cards specifically for Internet purchases.

If identity theft occurs, seek the assistance of a financial counselor, attorney or someone at the financial institution who can provide advice about resolving identity theft. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)