Watch Out for ID Theft on Valentine’s Day!
by Chelsea Pompeani
Valentine’s Day isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be for some. It can be hurtful for those who have recently broken up with a loved one, but what stings even more is when that ex-loved one has stolen their identity to top it all off.
AAA East Central warns the public that they need to protect their personal information, even at home among family and friends.
“A person closest to you is the last person you’d expect to open credit cards in your name and rack up thousands of dollars worth of debt,” said Dan Flynn, Discounts and Rewards Manager. “Unfortunately, this happens more often than not, so it’s important to keep your personal information for your eyes only,” Flynn added.
AAA provides member benefits that supply identity theft tracking. ProtectMyID® Essential is included for the lifetime of membership, for members who choose to enroll. It offers basic credit monitoring of members’ Experian credit reports, plus lost wallet assistance. ProtectMyID® Deluxe supplies full daily monitoring of credit reports from all three major credit monitoring bureaus, plus several other features to protect the identities of members and their families.
AAA East Central offers the following tips to prevent ID theft from both known and unknown suspects:
• Trust must be earned. Most likely, your spouse will have access as needed to your financial information, but a boyfriend or girlfriend probably shouldn’t. If you suspect something is not right in any relationship or a breakup is looming, protect your personal information by changing passwords and creating separate accounts
• Use a safe or locked file cabinet. These should be used to store all bank
statements, tax returns, credit card statements, Social Security numbers, account numbers and passwords
• Be careful with your purse, wallet and checkbook. An identity thief needs only a credit card number and expiration date to open up accounts and charge thousands of dollars in your name
• Keep an eye on your kids and their friends. Even the best-behaved teens will disobey their parents. Keep personal financial information out of their sights
• Establish security on your home computer. This should include usernames and password, and log out or shut down your computer every time you’re finished using it
• Password difficulty. Don’t choose passwords that are obvious and could be guessed by family or friends
• Be cautious of house sitters. They may bring guests to your house while you’re gone. Keep personal information locked up when you’re on vacation
• Office rules. Follow the same safety measures at work to stop co-workers, clients and employees from getting their hands on your personal documents.
No one wants to accuse someone close to them of committing a crime, but if someone has broken your trust and stolen your identity, file a police report immediately.
AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 83 local offices in
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York servicing 2.7 million members.
Regional News | KP NewsDesk February 12, 2016
No Comments
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading ...
