The Savage Truth: Guard Your Identity

If you know your credit card has been stolen, you have a head start on the thieves by notifying your card issuer, and perhaps by calling the credit bureaus and putting a freeze on your credit report. (Fourteen states have passed legislation authorizing such a freeze.)

But what if an identity thief grabs your information without your knowledge? We've seen that happen as major retailers, hospitals and banks have lost magnetic tapes containing names and social security numbers. A new law being proposed in Congress would require immediate notification of anyone affected. But sometimes it is days before even the retailer is aware of the loss of data. In online chatrooms, the thieves could have already sold your identity.

Another potential disaster scenario: Lately you've read headline stories about immigration scams that use false social security numbers to provide documentation to illegal aliens. How would you know if someone is using your social security number?

It's not so bad, I suppose, that they're reporting income in your name. But what happens when they start opening credit accounts?

Abagnale recommends MyPublicInfo, a service that costs $79 -- which I wrote about nearly a year ago -- to securely give an instant report about where your name appears in all public documents. (You can only find your own information, because access requires answering some personal questions that only you would know, much as online credit reports require this type of security.)

The most important message is how vulnerable we all are -- and in so many ways. Do you check your bank balance or shop online using an insecure wireless network, or an Internet café computer? Assume someone is capturing your keystrokes. Do you click on those emails asking you to confirm banking information, a process called "phishing?" Assume that you've been redirected to a site that lifts your data for resale to a global theft ring.

Think before you click on your computer or toss your trash. Guarding your identity is a full-time process. And that's The Savage Truth.

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