Military Financial Advice - Army Times

Prying eyes can steal your ID, so take secure steps

In the movie “Enemy of the State,” Will Smith’s character had his life destroyed by renegade government intelligence officers. Police believed he murdered his friend, and he was pursued viciously by the intelligence agency that wanted to obtain something valuable he didn’t even know he had. Other friends died. The eye in the sky was following him.

Life would not be quite as miserable or dramatic if you became a victim of identity theft. But I can promise that it would be miserable nonetheless.

Identity theft is the most common fraud complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, which estimates that 10 million people a year have accounts falsely opened in their name or are otherwise cheated, according to a report in Dec. 26 editions of The Los Angeles Times.

ID theft can prevent you from buying a home. It can cost you thousands of dollars a year in extra interest when you refinance your home or try to finance a vehicle. Money can be taken from your bank accounts. Credit card and other accounts can be set up in your name and never paid.

A person’s credit can be damaged for years by ID theft, and most victims I’ve spoken with have spent hundreds of horribly frustrating hours trying to recover from it — sometimes none too successfully, I might add. While banks and credit card companies may not expect you to pay for fraudulent accounts and do appear to replace money taken from the accounts, these companies have done little to stop the storm surge of ID theft.

Safeguarding yourself against identity theft is even more important if you routinely use the Internet. Enter passwords on all personal and financial accounts on paper. Store them in two safe places in writing, not on any computer or hand-held electronic device. One storage place would be a personal bank safety deposit box, which I believe everyone should have.

If your Internet connection is a cable modem, your home computers are networked with hundreds of your neighbors. All a thieving neighbor has to do is plant a “snooper” program on your hard drive and his screen shows everything you see on your screen. The cable network in your neighborhood is just that — a network. And you share it with your neighbors. Truly, what you can’t see and don’t know about computer networks can hurt you — badly.

In fact, DSL and dial-up are far more secure than cable because they run over telephone lines to the phone company’s central wiring office before connecting to the Internet.

If you have used a software firewall, you probably noticed to your great surprise that unknown computers were seeking regular access to your computer. If you didn’t know that, I am telling you now. And that’s exactly why you need a firewall, to protect you from these casual attempts to reach your computer. But even personal and business firewalls will not stop determined hackers. Truly secure computer networks use firewalls that cost $12,000.

Whether you have cable or DSL, I suggest turning off the modem when you’re not using the Internet. The modem is the box given or sold to you when you signed up for Internet access. They have on-off switches.

When performing transactions online, do not offer your personal or credit card information unless you are absolutely sure that site is secure. A site is secure when the address bar displays “https” — the “s” stands for “secure.”

At home, throw out shredded personal mail and material only on trash-collection days. The best shredders “cross-shred” rather than make thin strips, which make an easier puzzle to solve. And if you don’t have one, get a mailbox with a secure lock.

At work, make sure your employer keeps your personal information in a secure environment. View the security of files with your own eyes. Is it in an unlocked file drawer? Is it on the company’s server with no password protection? What if someone in personnel quits — is the password changed?

Both at home and work, keep important papers and all financial records securely locked away. Do you leave your wallet on your desk and walk away even for a minute? Is your purse at your side and, if not, how long would it take you to notice whether someone took something from it?

Finally, be careful when using ATMs to make sure no one else is close. Shield your personal ID number from view.

This is the information age. Protect yours.

Dave Peters is a semiretired loan officer and credit repair specialist. He is a trustee of the nonprofit organization Credit Learning Systems, which teaches college students about credit and debt. He’s the author of the book “How Credit REALLY Works” and is a guest on radio shows nationwide. E-mail him at creditmatters@atpco.com.