If your kids are college aged, they need to be extra careful. College kids generally have clean credit reports and might not watch their accounts and credit reports as closely as other age groups, which makes them more of a target to identity thieves. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2017 Consumer Sentinel Network Data book, nearly 20 percent of all identity theft victims are age 29 or younger. Below you’ll find eight tips aimed at helping college kids stay safe.
In the meantime, if you’re wondering what you can do as a parent to keep them safe then we strongly suggest signing up for a LibertyID Family Plan. We’re like the American Automobile Association ( AAA) for identity theft, though having your identity stolen is a much harder fix than the flat tire you might call AAA to remedy. Sign up for an annual subscription now and rest easy knowing you’re covered by LibertyID. Our LibertyID Family Plan covers you, your spouse, parents and children in the event of identity theft. Subscribers call us at the first sign something is amiss and we assign them a personal recovery advocate who will clean up the mess and restore their identity to pre-event status.
- Be Careful Using Free WiFi: Only transmit applications and other documents containing private information via a secure Internet connection and not over free WiFi in public places. Same goes for paying bills and accessing your bank accounts online.
- Protect Your Social Security Number: Don’t carry around your Social Security card, or even just the number in your wallet. For information about other items you should NEVER carry in your wallet, read our blog post.
- Close the Door on Solicitors: NEVER give your Social Security number — or any other personal information — to solicitors on campus or who come to your door.
- Just Say No: Be careful who you give your Social Security number to, even if it’s a legit-looking form or application. Don’t be afraid to push back whenever anyone asks for your information. Criminals could use fake job applications to steal your private information, leaving you wide open for identity theft. This leads us to our next tip …
- Steer Clear From Fake Jobs: Beware of recruiter scams on LinkedIn and fake jobs on Craigslist. If the job listing is super generic and doesn’t contain a location, company name, etc. or the email address listed originates from Yahoo, Google or the like (which anyone can create), you should be suspicious as the “job” is likely a scam. For more signs that a job posting is a scam and some surefire ways to avoid recruitment scams, check out our blogpost.
- Change Your Locks: If you ever lose your house keys along with a document or identification that contains your home address, change the locks, even if everything seemed to be returned intact. A thief could make copies of your keys and take note of your address and break in at a later date. Read our blogpost for more information about how new cell phone apps could be used for nefarious purposes.
- Don’t Overshare: Taking part in every social media quiz you can is risky behavior. As our blog post points out here, participating in interactive Facebook memes and quizzes could actually put your identity at risk by getting people to share information about themselves that could contain answers to popular security questions.
- Practice Safe … Password Hygiene: Don’t share your passwords and don’t reuse them across multiple sites. If that one reused password is stolen in a data breach, the rest of your accounts are at risk.
To read about Six Bad Habits That Put Teens and Tweens at Risk of Identity Theft, visit our blog post.
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