 How
to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft & Credit Card Fraud
A corporate Attorney sent the following out to the
employees in his company. Read this and make a copy for your files in
case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of
his advice!
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards.
Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit
card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For"
line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company
knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your
check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't
have access to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of
your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home
address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never
have your SS# printed on your checks. You can add it if it is
necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy
machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will
know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and
phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or
abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on
us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
5. We have been told we should cancel our credit
cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and
your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you
can find them.
6. File a police report immediately in the
jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves
to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward
an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important of all:
(I never even thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting
organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also
call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing
that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for
credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any
company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and
they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
By the time I was advised to do this, almost two
weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records
of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of
which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional
damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this
weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in
their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to
contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:
- Equifax: 800-525-6285
- Experian (formerly TRW): 888-397-3742
- Trans Union: 800-6807289
- Social Security Administration (fraud line):
800-269-0271
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