Identity theft in the USA - how students can protect themselves
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
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Identity theft is one of the biggest and fastest growing crimes in the US. It involves stealing and misuse of your personal information like date of birth and social security number. That information in turn is used to open fake accounts so that the victim ends up owing money and with a bad credit report. If you are thinking that this is the time to complete university applications, and you will bother about this after starting your education in the US, you are mistaken. As soon as you start applying to US universities, you are a potential target for the identity thieves and your identity can be stolen even before you set your foot on the US soil.
International students are at a high risk due to two factors:
1. There are cultural differences they take time to adjust to - for example, date of birth is very private information in the US, and someone who knows your date of birth can steal your identity. But in some parts of the world it is so public information that students and job seekers write their date of birth on their resume! Bottom-line, stop mentioning your date of birth, except in the required field in the application. Don’t write your date of birth on your resume or other application documents.
2. Despite being very familiar with the internet, most international students have limited experience with shopping online and using a credit card over the internet.
No matter how much precautions are taken, anyone’s identity can be stolen. In the recent past, many mass identity thefts have taken place by hacking into servers of U.S. universities. Thieves have allegedly stolen record of millions of students, including of those who applied to that university, but did not even enroll. The only thing you can do is to monitor your credit file periodically (say once every six months) and take appropriate action if your identity is stolen. For example, your credit report may show a credit card you opened last month, which you are sure you did not open. You must contact that credit card provider and explain the facts to them. Universities or other large entities whose servers are compromised usually do a good job of informing all people whose data was stolen or is suspected to have been stolen, but beyond that it is the responsibility of the individual.
We highly recommend accessing your credit report and credit scores within the first six months of getting your social security number. In rare circumstances, you might be allocated a social security number which is already being used by a identity thief. If the contents of this post appear complicated and you have a question, you can ask in the “Travel, Money Matters and Insurance” section at the app2us.com forums. If you find our blog posts useful please be sure to spread the word to your friends.
