Identity theft: How you can prevent it
When we ran a credit report on an 18-month old child earlier this year, we didn’t expect to find he already had a bad credit history. But he did.
The child, whose mother had come to our bank seeking to open accounts for him and a sibling, was a victim of identity theft. Someone had used the child’s Social Security number to open a fraudulent bank account in the thief’s own name and wrote $19,000 worth of bad checks.That’s the reason we run credit reports on children too young to do math. Today’s banking environment is full of predatory practices. Opportunistic thieves steal identities, personal data and the money of honest people. If we had taken a short cut — if we’d decided to save on the nominal cost of running the report – the affected customer might still be unaware of what was being done in her child’s name.
We are constantly educating our customers — both retail and commercial — about safeguarding their personal and proprietary information. Small-business owners and home-office workers, who often work without the benefit of an IT team to protect their data, can be just as vulnerable as a child.
Online banking has caught on in a big way. We introduced it a year ago at our eight branches, and now over 50 percent of the customers who signed up for online banking use our bill paying service. Although many people have concerns about the safety of online banking and bill paying, they should understand that banks websites are protected through firewalls, encryption and passwords. It’s doubly important for customers to constantly update their home or home-office system with upgrades and patches to the firewalls, anti-spy software and anti-virus software.
Another important factor for customers to remember is, don’t ever send account information through an e-mail. Customers seeking help with their banking sometimes send their name and account numbers to us in the expectation that the information can help us fix their problem faster. We continue to educate our customers to never send personal information to us via e-mail, because e-mail is not secure. Customers who want to e-mail us about a problem should simply state that they want someone from the bank to call them regarding their account.
Some banks have started to allow customers to open accounts or apply for loans on their web sites. We made a business decision not to do so at this time. The federal Patriot Act requires banks to know who their customers are. If you bank with us, we want you to come to a bank branch with at least two forms of ID, at least one of them a photo ID. At this time we verify the name, address and Social Security number by various means to make sure that the customer is who he or she claims to be. This information is also run through a third-party credit reporting agency to detect any other derogatory information. Banks that open accounts online have an even greater responsibility to verify the identity of the person who is opening the account.
The growing practice of phishing is another way for identity to be stolen. The opportunistic "phishers" send out bulk e-mail messages with seemingly-helpful subject lines such as "need updated information on your account." The recipient — who could be you – opens it up and sees a logo from your bank, and underneath, a request to provide current bank account information such as name, account number, PIN, and often social security number. Don’t do it. There’s a reason that practically every bank web page you click on has a declaration that reads something like ours: "Please be aware that Athol Savings Bank will never ask you to verify your personal or account information via unsolicited e-mail or telephone call."
New technology has made it easier for retail and commercial customers to do their banking from anywhere that has an Internet connection. But cyberspace also increases the risk of unwanted intrusion. Therefore it is vitally important that banks have policies and procedures in place for employees to follow to protect customer information, as well as a plan to help educate customers on preventing identity theft.
You can protect your identity by following some basic rules: shred your credit and debit receipts before discarding them. Check your credit card bills and bank statements. Don’t use easily recognizable personal identification numbers (PINs). Don’t use your Social Security number on your drivers’ license and if ordering something online, make sure the site is secure. Secure websites start with "https" and have a closed padlock at the bottom of the page.
If you feel your data has been compromised in any way, contact credit bureaus such as Equifax, Experian and Tele-check to alert them of the possibility. Check your credit reports once a year. Here are three good web sites
with a wealth of information:
www.consumer.gov/idtheft; www.acecusa.org/tips; and www.privacycouncil.com/links_opt.
Cheryl D’Ambra is senior vice president of retail banking and security officer at Athol Savings Bank.
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