Hi Cathy,
We recently had an incident of identity theft in my dh's family. I have a SIL who works with this stuff daily. This is the e-mail she sent out to all family members. I hope it helps.
Dallas
The following was e-mailed to me:
No one is safe, no matter what you do. People can steal your identity from the internet; or if you go in and buy a car, the salesman or someone who has access to that paperwork, can steal your identity; or someone from where you bank, most likely a bank employee, as they have all your personal info (as well as your acct balance!); or if you've been to the hospital, someone who works there can steal your identity. It's become an epidemic.
Be very, very careful of e-mails you get from institutions or companies you deal with. Some of these scam artists have gotten real good where they will copy the company's webpage and it looks so real. They will tell you something is wrong with the account, such as your password has expired, or they need to update their records with some of your personal information, or they have even gone as far as saying that there has been some suspicious activity on your account and they need to verify who you are so why don't you provide your social security number, your mother's maiden name (which you should never provide the real one - use a fake one as anyone who has some of your personal info can track down your birth certificate and find out what your mother's maiden name is - also never list the real city you were born in - again, they can track that via your birth certificate) sorry - got off track. They'll ask you to verify some personal info just to confirm who you are before they will share the suspicious activity to you which, when one hears that, they're eager to provide whatever info to find out what's wrong with their account. DON"T! They will sometimes provide a phone number to call within the e-mail or provide a web link within the e-mail to click on to go ahead and verify your info. DON'T! Pull out your bank statement or your credit card or some type of paperwork and call the number on that paperwork to verify the e-mail. Also, get their real website (which you may already have in your favorites) and check their website. The web link in the e-mail may say
www.bankofamerica.com but when you click on it it and look at the address line, it will say something completely different, or it will be off by one letter or so, i.e.
www.banksofamericas.com to try to fool you it's the real deal.
Do the best you can to keep your info private. When you go somewhere and they ask for your Social Security number or your Drivers License number or your birth date, ask them why they need it and that you prefer not to give it unless absolutely necessary. (At the emergency room the other day, the paper work asked for just that - my SS#, my DL# and my DOB - I asked if I absolutely had to give it and she said one or the other so I gave them my DL#.)
Guard your purse or wallet as id thieves try to steal them to get your personal info. Only carry the credits cards or checkbook you will use that day - leave them at home in a safe place in case you do lose your purse/wallet. NEVER carry your social security card with you, EVER, unless you need to present it that day somewhere.
Check your credit report twice a year. It's free in Illinois (I believe one check per year). They passed the law in Illinois that required credit bureaus to provide a free credit report, regardless if you thought you were a victim of id theft or not, to those who asked) with
www.truecredit.com which not only provides our credit report with all 3 credit bureaus, and provides a credit score, but also provides us a weekly e-mail indicating if there has been any new activity on our credit (which includes inquiries, or new credit).
Unfortunately, there is so much id theft out there that you have to be your own security guard. If it happens to you will have to be your own police person and acquire the paperwork and call the creditors and MAKE them help you to stop it and remove the bad credit.
Nicole