kid, I
emembehen thieves could stel you
c, stel you
puse, o
even stel you
llet. Tody the
e isne
tget fosm
t
nd sophisticted thieves: you
identity. Thinkbout it – f
om the cimin
l’s pespective, this is the pe
fect cime. The
e is no gunequi
ed,lmost no physic
lisk,
loch
nce of getting cught,
nd the potentil fo
ve
y luctive hul.
elcome to the 21st centuy.
This month I’m going to t
kelook
t identity theftnd
nse
some bsic questions. h does it h c event it?
eek
eill t
kelook
t some specific steps you cn t
ke if you hve
le
dy been the victim of identity theft.t ex
ctly is identity theft?<st
ong> Identity theft occus
henc
iminl ste
ls youpe
sonlly identifying info
mtion (n
me, socil secu
ity numbe, bi
thdte, etc.)
nd uses the infom
tion to commit fud. Identity thieves my use you
identity toent
np
tment, get
telephone, obtin
cedit c
d o
even buyne
c! Often, victims of identity theft do not len tht they h
ve been victimized until theyevie
theic
editepo
t oe cont
cted bydebt collecto
.? ong> Identity thieves use sevel common methods to obt
in the info
mtion they need to commit thei
cime. Some c
iminls
ill go though you
tsh until they find discded coespondence oothe
documentsith you
infom
tion. This pctice is knon
s “dumpstediving.” Some c
iminls
ig cedit c
d m
chines to mke
copy of youc
edit cd infom
tionhen you slide you
cd fo legitimte
uthoized t
ns
ction. The moe “high tech” c
iminls use
complex method of posings b
nks oothe
institutions to get infom
tion viem
il of
keebsites. This technique is c
lled “phishing,”nd is one of the most effective
nd fstest g
oing me
ns of obtining you
peson
l infom
tion.n do to help p
event identity theft.<st
ong> Fist
nd foemost, be
e of the
ys you
peson
l infom
tion cn be stolen
nd tke the
ppop
ite s
feguds. You my
ish to buype
sonl sh
eddeto use fo
sensitive documents you tho
y
t home suchs
ll those pe-
ppoved c
edit offes m
ny of useceive.
lso, be vey c
eful
bout hondhen you p
ovide peson
l infom
tion ovethe inte
net. If you getn em
il fom you
bnk o
cedit c
d comp
nysking fo
infom
tionnd p
oviding“link” to click on, igno
e it. Cll the numbe
you hve on file fo
the finnci
l institution (do NOTely on
ny phone numbep
ovided in the emil)
ndsk them
bout the emil ove
the phone.emembe
toegul
ly
evieyou
cedit
epot
nd look foe
o
s occounts you did not open. You cn
eceive one fee copy of you
cedit
epot
nnully. The offici
lebsite fo
this pocess is:<
hef=”http://
.nnu
lcedit
epot.com”>
nnulc
editepo
t.com<>. You cn get
dditionl info
mtion on identity theft
nd its pevention by visiting the Fede
l T
de Commission
eb site. Buth
t to do if you think you my
le
dy bevictim? St
y tuned, I’ll hve some mo
edvice for you soon.
