Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

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Identity theft occurs when a criminal uses your personal information—such as your Social Security Number, driver’s license, credit cards, or debit cards—for fraudulent activity.

Identity thieves may obtain your personal information by stealing your mail, wallet, or purse, or through online “phishing” campaigns. If they steal your information, they can use it to take out loans, open new credit accounts, or take money from your bank accounts.

Take Action Now to Secure Your Identity and Resources

These 10 tips can help you get started:

1. When choosing Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and passwords, avoid using easily-identifiable information, like your birth date or the last four digits of your social security number. Create a password with letters, numbers, and symbols—or consider using a passphrase with a sequence of random words.
2. Do not carry cards containing personal information—especially your Social Security card—except on days when you need them.
3. Check your credit reports for any unusual activity at least once a year. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.
4. Never reply to emails sent by people you don’t know, and never download attachments from messages you don’t recognize.
5. Be careful with your trash and recycling. Shred all documents containing personal information. Some identity thieves “dumpster dive” by rummaging through trash to find personal information.
6. Request a mail delivery hold from the U.S. Postal Service if you go on vacation. Or, have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers until you return.
7. Be cautious when giving personal information over the telephone. Identity thieves can cleverly disguise themselves as bank or government agency representatives and ask for your personal information.
8. Take immediate action if you think you may be a victim of identity theft. Don’t wait to report suspicious activity.
   1. You can freeze your credit reports at no charge. Credit freezes restrict access to your reports, and prevent anyone—even yourself—from opening new credit accounts. You can temporarily thaw a credit freeze if you need to apply for credit, and freezes don’t affect job, rental, or insurance applications.
      1. You must contact all three reporting companies to freeze your reports.
         1. Equifax: Security Freeze
         2. Experian: Freeze Your Credit
         3. TransUnion: Freeze Your Credit
   2. You can also place a fraud alert on your credit reports, at no charge. Fraud alerts requires creditors to take additional steps to verify identify, like calling you directly.
      1. You only need to contact one of the reporting companies for a fraud alert. By law, if one company issues a fraud alert, the other two must also place an alert on your file.
      2. Initial Fraud Alerts expire after one year, and don’t require any additional documentation. You may also request an extended fraud alert, which lasts for seven years, and requires an FTC Identity Theft Report or police report. Active duty military members may also place an Active Duty alert while serving.
         1. Equifax: Credit Fraud Alerts
         2. Experian: Fraud Alert Center
         3. TransUnion: Place a Fraud Alert

Avoid Phishing Scams

Your personal information should remain personal. Protect yourself and your assets by learning how to spot online investment scams. Two of the most common scam types are “phishing” and “spoofing.”

Phishing occurs when bad actors use emails to mine personal data for identity theft and other criminal efforts. These emails may look legitimate, and often appear with logos or images from reputable brokerages, banks, insurance companies, or advisory firms.

But they actually come from criminals, phishing for personal information. The message might link to a fake, “spoofed” website, where the scammer can obtain the user’s login information.