Identify Theft Toolkit

1 WHAT IS IDENTITY THEFT? 1 What Does Personal Information Include? 3 Identity Theft and Technology 4 How Do Identity Thieves Steal Information? 5 What Happens to Your Personal Information? 5 Detecting Identity Theft 7 How Safe Is Your Identity? 8 How This Book Can Help You 10 2 PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT 13 When You Give Your Information Away 13 How good is a company’s privacy policy? 16 Opting out 19 Threats at Work 20 What your employer can do to protect your information 21 What you can do to protect your information 22 v CONTENTS Shopping Securely 23 Check Washing 25 Computer Protection 26 Guard your laptop 26 Secure your wireless connections 28 Keep safe on the Internet 28 Watch for phishing scams 32 Protect yourself during online transactions 35 Hackers 36 PDAs (Personal digital assistants) 37 Discard your computer with care 38 What Your Children Need to Know 38 Children’s friends 39 Children and the Internet 39 Protecting Your Home 40 Mail 40 Trash 41 Telephone 41 Credit and Debit Cards 42 Car Risks 43 The Threat You Carry 44 On Vacation and Still at Risk 44 The Danger Card (SSN/SIN) 46 Canadian Firearms License 48 Identity Theft Insurance 49 “Say No” to Identity Theft 49 3 WHAT TO DO IF YOU BECOME A VICTIM 51 Document Everything 52 Track Your Investigation 53 Get the Help You Need 54 vi Identity theft toolkit Whom You Should Contact 55 Financial institutions 55 Police 56 Personal service providers 57 Government departments 57 Be Sure to Follow Up 58 Summary 59 4 REPORTING AN IDENTITY THEFT 61 Law Enforcement 61 Financial Reporting 62 Financial institutions 62 Credit card companies 62 Debit cards 63 Check cashing 63 Student loan fraud 64 Bankruptcy fraud 65 Department store accounts 65 Investment fraud 66 Government Agencies 68 Tax fraud 68 Driver’s license 69 SSN or SIN fraud 69 Passport fraud 71 Old Age Pension fraud 72 Criminal Records 74 United States 74 Canada 75 Canadian Firearms License 75 Personal Reporting 76 Phone fraud 76 Calling cards 78 Contents vii Utility fraud 78 Mail theft 78 Internet fraud 78 Help Track Identity Theft 80 United States Federal Trade Commission 80 PhoneBusters Canada 80 5 YOUR CREDIT REPORT 81 Credit Report Suspicions 83 United States Credit Bureaus 84 Fraud alert 84 Your rights 85 Free credit reports 87 Free active duty alerts for military personnel 88 Credit report fees 88 TransUnion 89 Equifax 97 Experian 99 Canadian Credit Bureaus 102 Fraud alerts 103 TransUnion Canada 103 Equifax Canada 111 6 FORMS FOR DEALING WITH IDENTITY THEFT 115 ID Theft Victim Information Form 118 Contact Checklist 123 Law Enforcement Contact Form 125 Main Financial Institutions Contact Form 126 Additional Financial Contacts Form 127 Credit Card Companies Contact Form 128 Department Stores Contact Form 129 Driver’s License Contact Form 130 viii Identity theft toolkit SSN or SIN Information Contact Form 131 Passport Contact Form 132 Telephone Companies Contact Form 133 Utility Companies Contact Form 134 Other Services Contact Form 135 Post Office Contact Form 136 Medical Information Contact Form 137 Equifax United States Contact Form 138 TransUnion United States Contact Form 139 Experian United States Contact Form 140 Equifax Canada Contact Form 141 TransUnion Canada Contact Form 142 Sample Letter to a Credit Reporting Agency 143 Sample Letter to Existing Creditors 144 Sample Confirmation Letter 145 Quick List of US Contacts 146 Quick List of Canadian Contacts 147 CHECKLISTS Your Identity Risk Test 9 Identification Document Checklist 45 SAMPLES Sample Phishing E-mail 32 Sample Credit Report from TransUnion (US) 92 Sample Credit File Request Form from TransUnion 105 Sample Credit Report from TransUnion (Canada) 107 TABLES Identity Risk Test Results 10 Examples of Breach of Privacy 18 Current Rates for a Personal Credit Report 89