{"id":101554,"date":"2016-09-23T15:11:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T19:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/?page_id=101554"},"modified":"2023-04-12T14:43:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T18:43:01","slug":"how-to-fight-identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/support\/information-security\/security-for-everyone\/how-to-fight-identity-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Fight Identity Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What is Identity Theft?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It occurs when someone steals your personal information \u2013 e.g., credit card or Social Security number \u2013 and uses it fraudulently<\/li>\n<li>It can cost you time and money<\/li>\n<li>It can destroy your credit and ruin your good name<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>How can someone steal my Identity?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Identity thieves may:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Go through your trash or \u201cdumpster dive\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Steal your wallet or purse<\/li>\n<li>Steal your mail or submit a change of address form for your mail<\/li>\n<li>Use \u201cphishing\u201d or fake emails to get you to provide personal information<\/li>\n<li>Steal personnel records from their employers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>1\/3 of Identity Theft victims reported to FTC in 2005 were under 30 years old<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Special concerns for Students:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dormitory burglaries<\/li>\n<li>Driver\u2019s license\/student ID theft<\/li>\n<li>Credit card offers<\/li>\n<li>Use of Social Security numbers for identification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>What can be done?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Federal Trade Commission has created a program with these points<\/p>\n<p><strong>DETER<\/strong> Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information<\/p>\n<p><strong>DETECT <\/strong>Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements<\/p>\n<p><strong>DEFEND <\/strong>Defend against identity theft as soon as you suspect a problem<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Shred financial documents before discarding them<\/li>\n<li>Protect your Social Security number<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t give out personal information unless you\u2019re sure who you\u2019re dealing with<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t use obvious passwords<\/li>\n<li>Keep your information secure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Be alert<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mail or bills that don&#8217;t arrive<\/li>\n<li>Denials of credit for no reason<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Inspect your credit report<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The law entitles you to one free report a year from each nationwide credit reporting agency if you ask for it<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Order online:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.AnnualCreditReport.com\/\">www.AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Note that this is the ONLY one you should go to for your free report: <\/strong><\/em>There are many look-alikes out there that will give you a free report and then sign you up for a recurring monthly charge for further reports. Also when you are forwarded from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.AnnualCreditReport.com\/\">www.AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a> to the individual credit reporting sites, be careful what you click on. There are many opportunities to sign up for services for which you will be charged. It is not obvious what you should click on to get your free report. Please read carefully.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/bcp\/edu\/pubs\/consumer\/credit\/cre34.shtm\">Click here<\/a> for information from the FTC on your consumer rights<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Order by phone: 1-877-322-8228<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bonus:<\/strong> If you are a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/creditalerts\">PayPal<\/a> user, you can get\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/creditalerts\">free alerts from Equifax<\/a> on inquiries or balance changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Inspect your financial statements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look for charges you didn&#8217;t make<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Defend against identity theft as soon as you suspect a problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Place a 90-day \u201cFraud Alert\u201d on your credit reports by calling any one of the three nationwide credit reporting companies below or following\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.experian.com\/consumer\/cac\/FCRegistration.do?alertType=INITIAL_ALERT\">this link<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"348\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\"><strong>Organization<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\"><strong>Phone<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">Equifax<\/td>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">800 525-6285<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">Experian<\/td>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">888 397-3742<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">TransUnion<\/td>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">800 680-7289<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">SSN-Fraud<\/td>\n<td width=\"165\" valign=\"top\">800 269-0271<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>Placing a fraud alert on you account entitles you to a free credit report from each agency. Order these reports and them carefully. Look for fraudulent activity.<\/li>\n<li>Close accounts that have been tampered<\/li>\n<li>File a police report<\/li>\n<li>Contact the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.consumer.gov\/idtheft\/\">Federal Trade Commission<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For more information<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Online: www.ftc.gov\/idtheft<\/li>\n<li>By phone: 1-877-ID-THEFT<\/li>\n<li>By mail: \u2028Identity Theft Clearinghouse \u2028Federal Trade Commission \u2028600 Pennsylvania Avenue, \u2028NW Washington, DC 20580<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fightidentitytheft.com\/fraud_numbers.html\">More Identity Theft contact numbers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Identity Theft? It occurs when someone steals your personal information \u2013 e.g., credit card or Social Security number \u2013 and uses it fraudulently It can cost you time and money It can destroy your credit and ruin your good name How can someone steal my Identity? Identity thieves may: Go through your trash&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4697,"featured_media":0,"parent":101545,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4697"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101554"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145031,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101554\/revisions\/145031"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}