Embrace security measures before another breach
When I issued a warning about kids and identity theft in my column last month, I could not have known how timely that caution would be.
The recent Equifax breach has potentially exposed the personal information of 143 million people, including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers.
You can bet that many college-age kids — even with bare bones credit histories — were among the victims in this theft.
In my August column, I explained how my credit card had been compromised while I was on vacation and the steps I took, including checking my credit reports with the three main credit bureaus and signing up for a free credit monitoring service through Credit Karma.
Readers also weighed in with their suggestions to head off identity thieves.
College-age kids may be especially susceptible to fraud if they’re too revealing on social networking sites or simply fail to keep a close eye on their credit or debit cards in their dorm room.
If your college-age kids have established credit — say, from signing up for a cellphone plan — they should check their credit reports by going to www.annualcreditreport.com. This service is free. They can see if there’s been any attempt to open a credit card under their name.
In addition, the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center (www.idtheftcenter.org) has tons of information online geared to helping college students deal with identity theft.
What’s the best insurance to prevent ID theft? A credit freeze. This locks your credit report and blocks thieves from opening new loans or lines of credit in your name.
To ice your accounts, you must contact all three main credit bureaus — TransUnion, Experian and, yes, Equifax — and it takes only minutes to complete online. It costs about $5 to $10 per bureau, depending on your state. You also can set up a freeze by calling 1-877-322-8228.
But read the fine print before putting your credit reports on ice. A freeze also prevents you from getting new credit, such as a student loan, a car loan or an additional credit card. In that case, you’ll need to contact the credit reporting companies to temporarily lift the freeze.
Keep in mind there can be fees each time you add or remove a freeze.
Another option: Set spending limits on your credit cards. This allows you to keep tabs either through text or emails on other authorized users of the card, such as a son or daughter away at college.
Said one reader: “All my cards are shared with other family members and are set up to notify me of any purchase over $10.” The notice — in her case, from Visa — includes the time and location of the purchase, as well as the amount charged.
Another strategy, using a virtual credit card number, has become increasingly popular for online purchases.
As explained by PC magazine, this is a randomly generated card number associated with your actual credit card. Depending on the card issuer, you may be able to set up a maximum charge for the virtual number and an expiration date, which further protects your transaction from hackers.
“To the online merchant, it looks no different from any other credit card,” PC said in its report. “The charges appear on your regular bill, but the merchant doesn’t have your actual credit card number.”
One reader said he uses a virtual credit card number through MasterCard on all his online purchases on Amazon. “At least you are not disclosing your main card number ... if a hack was to occur,” the reader said.
Finally, make sure your kids have followed through on no-cost, common sense measures to thwart identity bandits: monitoring credit card and bank accounts online, changing passwords regularly and adding a shredder to the dorm room to destroy sensitive documents.
Even if you dodge a bullet in the Equifax breach, it should serve as a warning to protect yourself.
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