Protect Yourself from ID Theft
Recently while on a flight from Seattle to Maui, I watched the 2013 movie “Identity Thief,” with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. I love those two actors, and I really enjoyed this silly movie, with its over-the-top physical comedy and ridiculous happy ending. (Oops, spoiler alert!). Melissa McCarthy’s character makes her living by stealing people’s credit card information, printing counterfeit cards for herself and going on shopping sprees.
“Ahh, keep the card,” she flippantly tells a furniture salesman in one scene. “That’s one’s done now.”
Bateman’s character decides to take matters into his own hands to find the thief, bring her to justice, and get his credit restored. Thus, we go on a comedic-odd-buddy-road trip for the rest of the movie.
The film helped pass the time on my long flight, but it also had me wonder. Just how prevalent is identity theft?
According to Experian, one of the major credit reporting agencies, one in 20 Americans experience some form of identity theft every year! Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal information in order to commit fraud or gain some financial benefit. They may file a tax return under your name to get your refund, for example or use your medical benefits. Mostly, we hear about unauthorized purchases using your credit or debit card, as in the movie.
It happened to me once. My husband called me at work wondering about some debits he noticed in our joint checking account.
“Honey… did you buy something for $200?” he asked. “Five times?”
A true story! But that ultimately only cost us some stress and a few hours at the bank filling out paperwork and ordering new debit cards. In the end, the bank made it right in the span of an afternoon. Sometimes, though, the cost of losing your personal information can be devastating. Your credit score matters! Especially when you need a mortgage or even to be able to rent an apartment.
So what can you do to lower your chance of becoming a victim?
First: Pay attention. Watch your bank account, credit card accounts and credit report. If my husband hadn’t seen those unauthorized debits from my bank account early on, I would have had to gone back and dealt with bills that didn’t get paid, checks that bounced and late fees. If you see anything unauthorized, alert the bank immediately. You can receive free credit report of each of the three agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion once a year, and you can keep an eye on your FICO score for free through apps like CreditKarma.
Second: Make sure you have secure passwords. This one makes me crazy, and I admit it’s hard to keep track of them all but it’s important. There are programs and apps that can help. Find one you like and use it. My older sister and I joke about being in “password purgatory,” you know, that place when you can’t remember your password, and you’ve been locked out of an account because of too many failed tries. Try not to be too angry when that happens. The security helps keep the thieves out too.
Third: If you must use public wi-fi, don’t do your online shopping, or send personal information, like your credit card number. Resist the urge to check your bank balance at the grocery store when using their wi-fi.
Fourth: You know those fun online quizzes from Facebook and other social media? “Which Star Wars character are you?” or “How many National Parks have you been to?” These quizzes are actually data mining, finding out information about you that can lead to finding other information about you, like your mother’s maiden name, for example. Just don’t participate in those, as tempting as they are.
Be smart! And for more information about identity theft, check out the Federal Trade Commission’s website: https://consumer.ftc.gov/features/identity-theft.
If you or anyone you know needs a fresh financial start, and selling a home quickly would help, give me a call.
Let’s create a win-win together.