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Identity Theft, Workshops

Identity Theft and How to Avoid it

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In February 2015, FTC released in its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book that 18% of identity theft complaints come from the consumer age range of 20-29 for the year of 2014. In the years before, the percentage of identity theft complaints for the age group of 20-29 were the highest out of all the other age ranges given.

With that being said, the people who are most susceptible to identity theft are college students. Meaning us! We are the most susceptible to having our credit card stolen, our ID taken, our information handed out to untrustworthy people, and any other identity theft out there. Why are we targeted?

  • We don’t regularly check our bank/credit statements
  • We usually have a clean credit and a good score
  • We usually over share information over social media, cellphones, and internet
  • We potentially carry too many sensitive items in a purse or wallet

 

There are probably even more reasons as to why college students like us are more susceptible to identity theft, but we don’t HAVE to be.

There are many ways to keep us safe from identity theft. Here are some ways on how you can avoid and protect yourself from identity theft:

  • The number one thing you can always do to avoid and prepare for identity theft is to regularly check your bank statements and credit report!
  • Report any and all unusual activity on your credit report. Make sure to keep information that you filled out for any report.
  • Secure your technology by using a firewall and having anti-virus protection on your computer, a password on your phone, never saving your information on a public computer, and shutting down or logging off from computers after use.
  • Beware of scams. Phishing are email scams that ask for personal information. There are even scholarships and student loan scams: if it asks for a fee upfront, it’s not legitimate!

 

This and more will be discussed in our upcoming workshop “Credit Cards and Avoiding Identity Theft” on Thursday April 9th, at 5:30 pm in Jones Library room 105!

You can also check out CashCourse where most of this information is available with specific details and even more ways to avoid and protect yourself from identity theft! Go to CashCourse.org and sign up. It’s a free online financial education tool with many helpful articles and tools to help you understand personal financial topics.