Tips for Avoiding Identity Theft

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) has laid out various countermeasures against identity theft as it warned the public on the rising number of stolen identities, whether online or offline, during its Identity Theft Education on Wednesday night at the Hastings Branch Library.

Alex Zepeda, investigator at the Los Angeles DCA, said getting the right information and following easy steps when dealing with personal details and credit cards in transactions can make a big difference in fighting off identity thieves.

Zepeda, who was speaker in the Identity Theft Education event at Hastings Branch Library, said people should be wary when making transactions using their credit cards, especially online where millions of crooks are looking for their prey.

The Federal Trade Commission reports there were 9 million cases of identity theft last year with losses to consumers of more than $5 billion. The simplest kind is credit card fraud, which accounts for over 60% of identity theft.

When online, she said the user should have a strong password for their emails and transact only with websites that are secure. A secure website has the prefix “https” instead of the usual “http”.

People should also be aware of websites that look legitimate but are actually designed to gather personal information of the users, she said. These are websites used by phishers, or those who copy the look and design of a legitimate website or use the logo of a banking institution in their emails to fish out personal information.

“If you fill out your information in response to the verification email, you are actually giving the crooks your personal information,” said Zepeda. This information could include Social Security numbers and credit card numbers.

She also stressed the importance of regularly reviewing bank or credit card statement and immediately reporting discrepancies to credit card institutions.

“It’s so easy to dispute discrepancies in your credit card,” said told the audience composed of mostly 40 to 60 year olds.

One of those who attended the talk, however, raised the problem of bureaucracy when submitting complaints regarding credit cards but Zepeda said the complainant should be persistent and insistent of his / her right to be heard.

“Complain until somebody hears you,” she said, adding that only 26 percent of the victims of identity theft report to the police.

Other than the police, Zepeda said an identity theft victim can contact the DMV, SSA, IRS, and US Postal Inspection Service. The DCA can help determine charges in disputes, fix problems with creditors, and help remove specific information in credit reports, she added.