IDENTITY THEFT
Protect Yourself
What is it?
Scenerio
Sara works on a computer every day at work. When she goes home she likes to enjoy surfing the web getting on social websites like face book and twitter. One day she was on face book when an ad popped up asking for her to buy a new phone case. She thought that the case was really cute so she clicked on the link which led her to a separate tab. She had never heard of this site before but thought it would be ok because they had reviews. Sara entered her credit card information, name, address and the last four digits of her social security. She wasn’t sure why they asked for her social but thought nothing else about it. Two weeks passed bye and she had not received her phone case. She tried to contact the company via the website but when she tried to send an email, she was notified that the email was not a registered email. The same day she received her bank statement and saw that her bank account was $785 over drawn from a purchase at Sears for a new smart TV. When she called her card company and told her that she had opened a new credit card account. Sara was very confused and she said that she had not done such actions. She worked with her card company to realize that she had her identity stolen and the scammer used it to open other accounts and to use her money. Once they fixed the information and Sara got her identity back she wanted to post an informative article about how to prevent your identity from being stolen.
How to Protect Yourself
- 1. DO NOT give out personal information to anyone you do not know.
- 2. Ask for sellers address with a phone number. Search the web for information about the company and look at reviews.
- 3. DO NOT wire money to strangers.
- 4. Read your monthly statements.
- 5. AVOID suspicious websites.
- 6. DO NOT give out your social security number.
- 7. Use strong passwords on all websites.
If YOU Have Been A Victim
- 1. Call your credit company if your credit card has been stolen.
- 2. Protect your Social Security Number if you think it has been compromised contact the Social Security Administration.
- 3. File a police report.