Think about how many times you swipe your credit card in a week. Maybe you buy lunch, dinner or even treat yourself to coffee or tea in the morning. With that thought, think of how many people have access to your personal information — phone companies, cable companies, your favorite websites, and not to mention, you have to actually pay the credit card company. In short, there are a lot of people who have access to your personal information, especially during the holiday season.
Recently, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller launched a statewide public awareness initiative called “Freeze Identity Thieves.” This initiative urges Hoosiers to sign up for a free credit freeze as the best protection against identity theft.
“The way we secure our finances must change in the digital age to respond to growing threats of identity theft and cyber hacks that jeopardize our credit and financial stability,” said Zoeller. “We are naive if we think our information is not already exposed, ripe for theft. Thankfully there is a free tool to protect credit and stop identity thieves in their tracks: the credit freeze.”
Every two seconds someone in America has their identity stolen, and in 2014, identity thieves stole more than $18 million from 17.6 million Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. On a smaller statewide scale, the Indiana Criminal Victimization Survey, a recent survey of Indiana citizens conducted by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, indicated roughly 1 in 10 Indiana adult residents were the victim of some form of identity theft in 2010.
The free credit freeze prevents any new lines of credit from being opened in someone’s name unless that person lifts the freeze himself or herself. Zoeller said one of the best things about this initiative is that Hoosiers can sign up for the freeze in less than 10 minutes. Several radio commercials have begun playing on local stations advertising Indiana’s credit freeze program, and TV commercials are soon to come.
As the holiday season goes into full effect, shoppers will expose their information to more people by utilizing credit cards in stores and online. Zoeller said another way an individual’s identity can be stolen is simply while spending time dining at a restaurant, as most families do during the holidays.
“In a restaurant when you give your credit card to a waiter and when they go in the back, instead of swiping the card on the register, they have their own device, a skimmer, to swipe the card. As long as people check their credit card receipt, they will discover the faults,” noted Zoeller.
The usage of credit cards is increasing as more and more people complete their shopping online. According to an April 2014 Gallup survey, 33 percent of Americans have one to two credit cards, 18 percent have three to four cards, 9 percent have five to six cards and 7 percent have seven or more cards. In a survey conducted by AARP, 30 percent of credit card holders say they put less than 10 percent of their purchases on a credit card per month, 18 percent put 10–24 percent of purchases on a credit card, 12 percent put 25–49 percent of purchases on a credit card and 37 percent say they put at least 50 percent of their purchases on a credit card.
Paige Hanson, senior manager of education programs at Lifelock, said even more credit card accounts are being opened as more people sign up for retail cards to obtain extra discounts.
Another way thieves can access personal information is through gaining one’s Social Security number, said Hanson.
“There is a lot of seasonal employment around this time, so the person you are handing over your personal information to may not have the alliance to that store (they would) if you were to go during the off season. We don’t want to say all seasonal workers are malicious, but you’re putting your information in more people’s hands that can potentially make it more fraudulent,” said Hanson.
Although the holiday season is a peak time for thieves, Hanson explained there is another time of year individuals should be aware of.
“Parents are signing their children up for after-school programs or sports programs during back-to-school season, and a lot of these programs have a box for your child’s Social Security number. Enrolling your child in an after-school football program or any other program may not require a Social Security number for them to gain access,” said Hanson.
Zoeller and Hanson also mentioned the importance of protecting one’s identity due to security breaches. Last year, big companies such as Anthem, Home Depot and Target experienced these breaches and may have lost the trust of several customers. This and many other incidents is why security chips are currently being embedded into credit and debit cards.
“Chip and PIN is an addition to credit card protection. Thieves wouldn’t be able to use the skimmer, because they would need a PIN and the chip. It’s almost a three-step security practice that mimics the systems in Europe, where they don’t have many data breaches,” noted Zoeller.
So how does one avoid having their identity stolen? Zoeller recommends signing up for Indiana’s free credit freeze. Another route available is through companies such as Lifelock that use a unique form of credit monitoring technology to constantly monitor more than a trillion data points. Individuals should also avoid purchasing items or paying bills while using public Wi-Fi in places such as their local libraries, coffee shops and sandwich shops. All transactions should be completed over a secure Internet connection. Getting into the habit of checking bank statements monthly is important, as well as thinking about your children when it comes to identity theft.
Lifelock Junior, a program offered by Lifelock, helps to protect children from identity theft and is very popular among parents and guardians.
“We think of a child’s identity like a clean slate, but because of this clean history, they’re often a target because someone can go under a child’s name and go undetected for years, and when a child does get older and wants to get a loan, they find out,” explained Hanson.
Just as it is difficult for a child to rebuild their reputation if their identity is stolen, the same goes for adults.
“If your Social Security number is used, it becomes a life-long issue, in very rare circumstances people are issued a new Social Security number, but it depends on the complexity of the issue,” added Hanson.
If someone used one’s credit card number and made a fraudulent charge, or if someone opened a credit card in someone else’s name, that is considered a minor situation, because most likely the situation can be fixed. An extreme case occurs when someone buys a home in someone else’s name.
Hanson said most victims don’t figure it out until they try to finance a loan or buy their own house or car.
“I’m not trying to get everyone scared of identity theft, because frankly it happens every two seconds, but I’m trying to get people to recognize that I can’t protect everyone,” Zoeller said. “My role is consumer protection, but I can give them the tools and tell them to help protect themselves. It only takes 10 minutes.”
To learn more about Indiana’s “Freeze Identity Thieves” initiative visit IndianaConsumer.com/idtheft and to learn more about Lifelock’s services, visit LifeLock.com.
