Sheriff's Office
Crime Prevention
Focus on...Identity Theft
HOW TO MINIMIZE YOUR RISK OF IDENTITY THEFT
Counterfeit Checks
Do not accept checks for lottery
winnings, sweepstakes, inheritance, or other winnings you have
no knowledge of and have not applied for.
Do not cash checks when you are
told to wire the excess amount back to the check writer.
See
www.fakechecks.com for
additional information.
Mail Theft And Mail Tampering
Do not place your out going mail in an
unsecured mailbox.
Place your mail in a U S Postal Service
(big blue) mailbox or walk into the post office.
Retrieve your mail
from your mailbox as soon as possible after the mail is delivered.
If possible, do not
have boxes of checks mailed to an unsecured mailbox. Go to the bank
to get the boxes.
Know the dates when
you receive your credit card monthly bills. If you do not receive
your credit card monthly bills contact the credit card company.
If you find that your
mail in your mailbox has been opened or you have not received mail
sent to you; YOU may be the target of Identity Theft.
Stop direct mail
marketing from many national companies for five years by writing
to:
Direct Marketing
Association
Mail Preference Service
P O Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
www.e-mps.org
Contact ABACUS, a
cooperative database. To opt out, write to:
Abacus
P.O. Box 1478
Broomfield, CO 80038
or email: optout@abacus-direct.com
Stolen Or Lost Wallets, Purses, Computers
Do not leave your
wallet, purse, computers, or valuables in a locked or unlocked
vehicle at any time.
Do not leave your
wallet or purse unattended while at work, school, and church, at a
social gathering or at the health club.
When you are away from
your office and house lock the doors. Lock your house and garage
doors at night. Keep your overhead garage door closed when you are
not using the garage.
Use of Credit Cards
Be watchful of shoulder-surfers.
Thieves will stand close enough to see Personal Identification
Numbers entered by users.
Keep track of your
credit card receipts, since your account numbers and expiration
dates may be listed on the receipts. Put the charge slips in a safe
location until your bill arrives.
Monitor your credit
accounts carefully so you become aware of unauthorized purchases.
Close out unused
credit cards.
Notify your creditors
to update your address if you are moving to prevent your credit
information or new credit cards being delivered to the wrong
address.
Dumpster Diving And Recycling
Shred your
“pre-approved” credit card applications and other documents with
your sensitive personal information such as your name and date of
birth, Social Security Number, bank and credit account numbers.
Stop having
pre-approved credit offers sent to you for two years. Credit
Bureaus offer a toll free number 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)
Phone Scams
Register for the Do Not Call list
at 1-888-382-1222 or
www.donotcall.gov
Stop direct telemarketing from many national
companies for five years by writing to:
Direct Marketing
Association
Telephone Preference Service
P O Box 1559
Carmel, NY 10512
www.e-mps.org
Do not disclose your
sensitive personal information to people that call you on the phone,
unless you are certain you know who called you.
Internet Fraud
Do not disclose your
sensitive personal information, account numbers, or passwords to a
website unless it offers a secure transaction.
A secure or encrypted
transaction will have these two features:
Use a firewall
program and update your virus protection on your computer.
Consider using a
secure escrow payment service of your choosing.
If the Internet
contact is making demands to rush you or change the terms of the
transaction reconsider your decision to be involved in the
transaction.
Be aware of phishing
/ spoofing on the Internet. Phishing is defined as: Attempts by
others to lure Internet users to a replica website. Spoofing is
defined as: A Website created as a replica of a legitimate Website
to fool the user into submitting personal information, financial
information, and passwords to the replica Website. Internet users
are lured to a replica Website and information is submitted to that
Website which is used for criminal activity.
To be deleted from
e-mail lists for five years from many national companies by writing
to:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P O Box 643
Carmel,
NY 10512
www.e-mps.org
Credit Bureaus
Request a security freeze to be placed on
your name. This stops the credit bureaus from releasing
personal financial information.
Call each credit bureau to put a "freeze"
on your information. You can "thaw" your information by
calling the credit bureaus. Credit bureaus can take no
longer than three days to thaw the account.
The "freeze" and "thaw" will cost about
five dollars with each of the three credit bureaus, however,
VICTIMS of identity theft who have reported the crime to police
can get a freeze for free.
Equifax -
www.equifax.com -
1-800-685-1111
Experian -
www.experian.com - 1-800-525-6285
Transunion -
www.transunion.com - 1-800-680-7289
Medical Records
To get a free copy of your Medical
Information Bureau report, phone 1-866-692-6901 or visit
www.mib.com/html/request_your_record.html
Insurance Claims History
To get a free copy of your CLUE
Report, which contains homeowner's or automobile insurance
claims history:
Phone - 1-866-312-8076 or visit
www.choicetrust.com
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Identity Theft Information page |
