Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft - What You Can Do Right Now

Reports about consumers who have had their credit ratings or even their lives wrecked by identity theft are very popular in the news media. While these incidents thankfully are rare, they also are very real. There are several steps you can take right now to make yourself a less likely target of identity thieves. Here are our top five:

1. Protect your Social Security number. This number is required to open new credit accounts, apply for installment loans and make money transfers in your name. To keep yours secure, avoid carrying your Social Security card in your wallet. If it’s lost, it can be very valuable to identity thieves. Also, whenever possible, request that your number – even if it’s just the last four digits – be removed from other identifying documents like drivers licenses, state identification cards, student IDs, even personal checks.
2. Review bank and other financial statements regularly. Any unusual or unrecognized activity should be reported to the issuing institution immediately. Even relatively small transactions may be tests that a criminal uses to determine if the account is still active. Also, by getting into the habit of expecting your statements on a regular schedule, any missing statements will be noticed and reported more quickly. Stealing financial documents from mailboxes is an important source of account information for thieves.
3. Destroy financial documents not needed for record-keeping. Never throw them in the trash. Identity thieves often search garbage cans and dumpsters for documents with personally identifying information. These include bank statements, credit card bills, insurance documents, investment reports and even computer hard drives or other storage media. A dependable home or small-office shredder is an excellent investment.
4. Protect Your Signature. Most of us just sign the backs of our credit or debit cards without a thought. A skilled forger, however, can quickly learn to copy your signature so the card, if lost, can be used for larger transactions that require signature verification. If this is a concern to you, consider printing “Request Photo ID” on the signature line, particularly on those credit cards with higher limits.
5. Don’t give away your identity. Although these scams have existed in one form or another for decades, the Internet has allowed criminals to bring economies of scale to simply asking consumers for account numbers, social security numbers, mothers’ maiden names and other data useful in perpetrating fraud. Be leery of anybody claiming to be from your bank, credit card company or other institution and requesting identifying information. Such scams often include very legitimate looking emails that ask you to log on to verify your account information. The embedded links often lead to equally official-looking sites that prompt users to enter their account numbers, social security numbers, etc. First Financial Bank will never request this type of information via email or telephone. If there is a question about your account, we will invite you to visit one of our banking centers , where you’ll know the people you’re doing business with. When in doubt, call the general business number of the institution involved and request more information. Even replying to a suspicious email can verify to the criminal that your email address is valid.

If you have questions about how you can secure your private information, or about the steps First Financial Bank takes to ensure the security and privacy of your transactions please call or stop by any First Financial Bank banking center.