Identity theft prevention has become a major concern for all of us in recent years.
We hear of people whose identity has been stolen and used to make purchases, to get credit and loans, sticking the victim with the burden of proving that they were not the one who incurred these debts.
The thief doesn't make payments on what they illegally obtained and the victim doesn't know about it until he or she tries to get credit.
It can take years before your credit report is corrected, and some never are.
Identity theft prevention is directed at keeping others from stealing your identity and using it to defraud others into giving them money or goods on the back of your good credit and your credit cards or bank account.
The consumer is the first in line to assure identity theft prevention.
You are expected to keep your credit cards, bank account, and social security number secure.
The best way to assure identity prevention is for you to protect your identity.
If you lose your credit card or if you think it has been stolen, call the issuer immediately and have it canceled.
Remember, someone who is using your credit cards or checks is pretending to be you.
They can use them without having to be personally identified.
They can make purchases over the phone or on the internet.
They can make direct purchases from merchants who do not make a practice of verifying the signature on the credit card against some other form of identification.
If you don't put your signature on the credit card, you're asking for trouble.
The reason credit cards have a place to sign your signature is precisely for identity theft prevention.
For the consumer, identity prevention also means safeguarding your social security number.
This number represents our identity in both the public and the private sectors.
With your name, it can be used to give another person an entirely new identity - yours! Landlords use it to check credit before they rent.
Businesses use it to check on a person's credit before they extend credit.
Employers are required to get it and report it to the IRS when they hire you to work.
With your name and social security, someone can start a whole new life: someone can live their life as yours.
The second line of defense for identity theft prevention are the businesses and organizations that obtain personal information from their customers or clients.
A consumer should not automatically assume that the business or organization has an active theft prevention program and should ask.
Ask if their computers have been hacked, if they've had any cases of identify theft, if they have an active identity theft prevention security system and if someone or a department is responsible for information security.
Consumers should make identity theft prevention one of their criteria in doing business with a company that uses their personal information.
If the company does not have an active identity theft prevention policy and security provisions, the consumer should find a company that does.
Identity theft prevention is a joint effort between the consumer and business.
Working together, they might not be able to eliminate identity theft entirely, but they can make it harder for identity thieves to succeed.