Protecting Yourself Against Identity Theft
What is identity theft?
Identity theft is the number one consumer crime in America, and is still growing rapidly. Identity theft occurs when someone illegally uses your personally identifiable information, such as your name, Social Security number (SSN), or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. They use this information to impersonate their victims. These identity thieves open new credit card accounts in your name or use your existing credit card information online or over the phone, often spending as much of your money as they can in a short time, before moving on to their next victim.
How do thieves steal an identity?
Skilled identity thieves may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including:
- Dumpster diving – they rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
- Phishing – they pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information online.
- Changing your address – they divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
- Old-fashioned stealing – they steal wallets, purses, and mail, including bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, new checks, or tax information.
How you can find out if your identity was stolen, and what should you do if it was?
The best way to monitor for identity theft is to scrutinize your accounts and bank statements each month for any unauthorized activity, and check your credit report on a regular basis. If you check your credit report regularly, you may be able to limit the damage caused by identity theft. For more information, visit the FTC Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt01.htm
What can you do to help fight identity theft?
Awareness is an effective weapon against identity theft. Armed with the knowledge of how to protect yourself and take action, you can make things much more difficult for identity thieves. You can also help fight identity theft by educating your friends, family, and members of your community. The Federal Trade Commission has prepared a collection of easy-to-use materials to enable anyone, regardless of existing knowledge about identity theft, to inform others about this serious crime. To learn more, visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/deter-detect-defend.html
How does T-Mobile work to protect customer information?
T-Mobile is committed to safeguarding the personal and account information of our customers and employees. We have established physical, electronic, and management safeguards to help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and to help ensure only appropriate use of information. We offer our customers passcodes on their accounts, both online and via their phone, and we provide extensive privacy training to all T-Mobile employees.