Identity theft and fraud workshop visits Delta

Are you doing everything you can to prevent identity theft and fraud? With the recent credit card scandals involving Target and Neiman Marcus, how can you make sure your financial information is safe? Delta College and coordinators with Achieving the Dream held the Identity Theft vs. Fraud Workshop on Thursday, Feb. 6. Patricia Franklin-Lindsey, Assistant Vice President for Chemical Bank of Saginaw, spoke at the forum, offering tips to keep your personal information protected.

Identity theft can occur when your personal information, such as your name, social security number or credit card number is used without your approval.

Franklin-Lindsey gave a personal account of how her credit card information was stolen. Her credit card was compromised at a hotel she stayed at. The credit card was duplicated and then maxed out at a Walmart.

“Identities can be stolen in a variety of different ways to anyone at any time, and it happens to at least nine million people each year,” said Franklin-Lindsey.

Some of the different ways an identity thief can access sensitive information are dumpster diving, credit card fraud, skimming (stealing credit card information by using a storage device when your card is swiped; this can happen at ATMs), phishing (acquiring usernames and passwords), vishing (using deceptive means over the telephone to gain information), smishing (using text messages) and stealing social security numbers.

To make sure your information isn’t jeopardized, Franklin-Lindsey offered some suggestions.

“The best way to protect yourself is to make sure you monitor your credit card or debit statements; if you can catch suspicious activity early, it will help with the recovery process,” said Franklin-Lindsey.

Other suggestions to protect sensitive information include being aware of ATM machines that look suspicious, not giving your ATM pin number to people and staying away from jammed ATMs that force you to use another one. Always shred documents that have personal or financial data on them, never give out personal data over the phone, through the mail or over the internet. You should never click on unsolicited e-mail links on your computer or cell phone and make sure you don’t use obvious passwords such as your birth date, the last four digits of your social security number, etc. Never carry your social security card with you, or credit cards if you’re not using them and close accounts that have been tampered with, or file a police report to help creditors prove the crime.

One Delta student, Chris, 20, has had his own struggles with identity theft and fraud.

“My mom wrote a bad check in my name; because of that it put me in some serious debt,” he said.

Franklin-Lindsey said Chemical Bank is always trying to protect their customers against identity theft and fraud. Chemical Bank does this by informing their tellers of known scams going around so they can help customers resolve identity theft scenarios. She also encourages people to look into special wallets that will help protect your credit card numbers from being swiped and annually do a credit report check.12