After pulling up to a new home away from home, and diving into the chaos of the environment, the concern for identity theft has been lost in the shuffle for most beginning college students.
However, in today’s society, identity theft is prevalent among these unsuspecting young adults with very little or good credit.
Armed with the proper resources, there are precautions that new college students can take in order to prevent fraudulent charges in their name.
“Some tips that college students can use to protect themselves from identity theft are always shred documents, and do not leave anything containing your personal information out,” Courtney Read, an identity theft expert with LifeLock identity theft prevention said.
Students can order a free credit report once a year at annualcreditreport.com to check for any fraudulent activity. Also on this Web site, alerts can be set up to warn the student of anyone
Unfortunately identity is extremely difficult to trace in many cases. According to lifelock.com, over 10 million Americans a year are affected by it, resulting in billions of dollars stolen.
“If someone believes they may be a victim of identity theft, they should order their credit report right away to check for fraudulent activity,” Read said.
“Depending on the type of theft, the victim may have to contact the police, to file a report. Victims will also want to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.”
Any person believing they may be a victim of identity theft should visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ immediately and fill out the proper forms that are also provided on this FTC Web site.
One of the most common traps for college students rests in pre-approved credit card offers in the mail. In order to prevent thieves from using these to obtain credit cards in another person’s name, all offers like this should be shredded prior to disposal.
“College students need to shred any documents that have their personal information, even if it just shows name and address,” Read said. “College students need to be cautious of any documents that contain their personal information. It is easy for a thief to gain credit in someone else’s name.”
The most common types of paper shredders will shred paper in either a “strip-cut” or “cross-cut.” For sensitive documents that may allow identity theft, cross-cut paper shredders are recommended for better security. While strip-cut shredders only cut paper into long vertical strips, cross-cut shredders cut paper horizontal and vertically into confetti-like pieces.
As new high school graduates go on to colleges and universities across the country this fall, the most important step to identity theft prevention is limiting access to private information. Students should take extreme caution when filling out offers halfhazardly taped to residence hall doors or stacked in the local coffee shop, offering free pizza in exchange for personal information and a credit card application.
“I have seen too many people try and ignore the problem, assuming it will go away on its own. It usually will not,” Lt. Jason Bone of the University Police Department said.