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Helpful hints for students to avoid identity theft |
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September 18th, 2009.
In the era of facebook and telemarketing scams, students are entering universities with a fairly unique challenge their grandparents and parents didn’t really have to worry as much about.
Identity theft has been a growing issue, especially for students in universities and colleges in one of Canada’s major cities. Official cards like driver’s licenses or health cards are often targeted for other students to make fake ID’s, or worse, for identity theft and fraud. Similarly, sensitive information posted on social networking sites are often used to build consumer profiles for advertising/marketing fraud.
Why is all of this so bad? With access to personal information like transaction records, to social insurance numbers, or even personal phone numbers and addresses, fraudulent organizations can build up a database of information about a student and sell them to scammers and telemarketers. Worst case scenerio, stolen information can even lead to a completely stolen identity. Suffice to say, criminals and scammers with access to a stolen identity can cause tremendous damage to a student’s reputation and career aspirations.
The following tips to minimize identity theft issues come from a piece in the Globe and Mail:
In the era of facebook and telemarketing scams, students are entering universities with a fairly unique challenge their grandparents and parents didn’t really have to worry as much about.
Identity theft has been a growing issue, especially for students in universities and colleges in one of Canada’s major cities. Official cards like driver’s licenses or health cards are often targeted for other students to make fake ID’s, or worse, for identity theft and fraud. Similarly, sensitive information posted on social networking sites are often used to build consumer profiles for advertising/marketing fraud.
Why is all of this so bad? With access to personal information like transaction records, to social insurance numbers, or even personal phone numbers and addresses, fraudulent organizations can build up a database of information about a student and sell them to scammers and telemarketers. Worst case scenerio, stolen information can even lead to a completely stolen identity. Suffice to say, criminals and scammers with access to a stolen identity can cause tremendous damage to a student’s reputation and career aspirations.
The following tips to minimize identity theft issues come from a piece in the Globe and Mail:
- When using campus computers and Wi-Fi hotspots, be aware that they aren’t always secure. Ensure you are using encryption (i.e. anti-key logging software, or password protection) to scramble communications over the network. Try not to view personal information on open campus networks.
- Keep your information secure by changing your passwords frequently. Keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware software updated. And if you’re using your laptop around campus, always take it with you to ensure that others aren’t reading what’s on your hard drive.
- Credit offers abound on university and college campuses. Walk through a student union and you can stop and smell the free t-shirts, water bottles, and key chains that banks offer college students when they sign up for credit cards. While it’s a great idea to start building a credit history, read the offers – and the fine print carefully – and understand exactly what you’re signing up for. Keep your credit cards safe, and don’t leave the bills lying around either
- Social networking sites are hot spots for most college students. Reveal as little as possible about yourself, especially family name, address, phone numbers, date of birth – identity thieves only need two or three pieces of this information to steal your identity.
- Protect and memorize your Social Insurance number. Don’t carry your SIN card with you. And don’t give out that number to anyone who doesn’t need it.
- Consider in invest in a good cross-cut shredder to properly dispose of all personal and financial materials. Credit card offers you receive in the mail should be shredded. Bank statements, tax documents – and other documents with personal information – should be securely stored until it is appropriate to shred. And never leave this information out in your dorm room or anywhere it could be accessed by others.
- Online shopping is convenient, but be sure the sites you use are secure by looking for “https” in the URL. Check with sites’ privacy policies so you know what they may be doing with your personal information, or if they’ve attached cookies to your computer, enabling them to track your viewing and usage patterns.
- Start the process of routinely reviewing your credit report. You can contact one of Canada’s national consumer reporting agencies - TransUnion or Equifax - and obtain a copy of your credit report.
- If you’re using peer-to-peer file sharing programs, be sure to configure the files securely so personal information is not accessible to others.
- Be wary of telemarketing and email scams. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Never give your personal information out.
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