15 ways to prevent identity theft and
protect your personal data
by Lance
Whitney, AARP, April 10, 2019
Secure Your Paperwork
En español
| 1. Opt for electronic statements. Thieves can steal bank
account statements, bills and other documents from your home mailbox. Instead,
says Paige Hanson, chief of identity education at Norton LifeLock, choose
electronic statements that get delivered via email or directly into your online
banking account. Bonus: You may be able to avoid paper statement fees or get billing
discounts by going electronic.
2. Keep a shredder handy. Shred all
bills and financial documents to keep thieves from fishing them out of your
trash. Hanson recommends using a cross-cut shredder, which cuts the paper into
smaller pieces than a strip-cut shredder.
Keep your personal information safe
3. Freeze your credit report. This keeps creditors and others from “running credit” on you, protecting you
from scammers who try to use your information to set up phony
accounts. It’s now free, but you need to contact three credit reporting
bureaus: Equifax, Experian and Transunion. You can always unfreeze it
temporarily to allow legitimate access to your credit, such as when you apply
for a loan.
4. Stop entering sweepstakes. You may be enticed by the vacation prize
at the mall kiosk, but before you enter personal details on the form, ask,
“What are you going to do with it?” advises Amy Nofziger, director of AARP’s
Fraud Watch Network helpline.
5. Stop giving out your Social Security number. Some businesses, such as banks, credit agencies and government
agencies, legitimately need your Social Security number for reporting
purposes. But that’s about it. “I often hear this question, ‘If my doctor
doesn’t need my SSN, why are they asking for it?’ ” Nofziger says. “I have been
to many new doctors, and I have never once been asked for the SSN after I left
the question blank on the form.”
Guard your money
6. Use a credit card whenever possible, not a debit card. If you have a problem, you'll be covered if you use a credit card, but not
as much for a debit card, says Frank Abagnale, AARP Fraud Watch Network
ambassador. But be sure that you can pay the credit card balance in full every
month. Do not trade deeper debt for an incremental improvement in security.
7. Better yet, use mobile payments. Setting up payments from your phone — to use at retailers that accept Apple
Pay or Google Pay — can help protect you from fraud. “You don’t swipe cards
that could be compromised by skimmers or expose your card numbers and security
codes at the point of sale,” says Rod Griffin, director of consumer education
at Experian. These mobile payments are linked to a debit card or credit card,
so the money comes from the same account.
Watch out for scam calls
8. Add your name to the Do Not Call Registry. “While it may not block all calls, it can help reduce the number of
unwanted calls,” Griffin says. Call the FTC toll-free at 888-382-1222 from the
phone you want to register, or go to donotcall.gov.
9. Don’t answer calls from numbers
you don’t recognize. The best way to do this is to adjust the Do Not
Disturb setting on your phone so that only calls from people on your contacts
list will even ring. Everyone else will go straight to voicemail. If it’s
important, they’ll leave a message.
10. Be prepared to hang up. If you do answer and hear a robocall,
don’t say anything — just hang up. Do not respond to questions, especially
those answered with a “yes,” as your response could be recorded and used by
someone else to authorize fraudulent charges over the telephone, Hanson says.
And don’t hit a button when prompted to stop getting calls. That could lead to
more calls. “Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets,”
Hanson says.
Protect yourself online
11. Be wary of public Wi-Fi. Scammers can tap into public Wi-Fi
accounts and access information you receive and send. “Using your
phone’s cellular data rather than public Wi-Fi is the best way to prevent
this,” says Sarah Hofmann, public information officer for the Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners. If you’re using a laptop, you should be able to use your
cellphone as a personal hot spot for internet access. If you must use public
Wi-Fi, at least install a virtual private network (VPN) on your
devices. VPN services such as Hotspot Shield, NordVPN or CyberGhost will
encrypt your data.
12. Watch what you share on social media. Scammers can find a lot about you on social media, says Rebecca Herold, CEO
of the Privacy Professor. “To protect yourself, don’t share your phone number, your
home address, anything related to your work, payment information, relationship
status, health information, birthday or Social Security
number. Yes, I’ve seen people do this!” Herold says.
13. Don’t reveal your location. Posting photos in real time of your restaurant meal or
hike reveals to the world you aren’t home — and won’t be for a while.
Similarly, wait until the vacation is over before sharing your stories and images.
Stay updated on the latest scams
14. Don’t fall prey to fear-based scams. AARP’s Fraud
Watch Network helpline has been receiving calls lately from people
who have gotten emails that threaten to broadcast evidence that they view
pornography online. In some cases, the emails contain the person’s email
password, obtained from a data breach, making it even more frightening. “Even
though most of our callers said they have never visited these websites, they
said they were close to sending money just to avoid any further harassment,”
Nofziger says.
15. Don’t respond to scam-recovery pitches. These are called reload scams: The scammers know you’ve been a victim
(at their hand), and to get more money from you, they will make an offer to
help you recover your money, Nofziger says. Do not respond. In general, “pay
attention to red flags and your gut if you get an email or request that seems
suspicious or out of the ordinary,” she says.
What to Do if You’ve Been Scammed
If you’ve fallen prey to fraud, take action quickly. “With the right
combination of information, scammers can open credit cards in your name, set up
fake PayPal accounts and cause other financial trouble,” says Christine Durst,
founder of CelebriCheck.
·
Notify your bank
and your credit card company.
·
Contact the
Social Security Administration about potential identity theft.
·
Call one of the
credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion or Experian) to place a fraud
alert on your file.
AARP’s Fraud Watch Network can help you spot and avoid scams. Sign up for
free “watchdog alerts,"
review our scam-tracking
map, or call our toll-free fraud helpline
at 877-908-3360 if you or a loved one suspect you’ve been a victim.
More on Scams and Fraud
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