Victim Of Identity Theft
By Rick Hazeltine
Staff Editorial Writer
Although adults are the primary targets of identity theft, teens and college students can also become the victim of identity theft. In fact, this is a growing victim population, especially with technology and social networking.
Although teens and college-age students can become a victim of identity theft the same ways as adults, there are a few differences that identity thieves target.
Obviously, most young people are much more involved in using the newest technology, especially computers and multi-function phones. Here are some of the ways that a teen or college student can become a victim of identity theft:
- File sharing is one of the most popular aspects of the Internet, especially for young people. Many of these programs are called peer-to-peer file sharing. This type of software allows the user to have access to the computer of all others who are part of the same network. Peer-to-peer file sharing is primarily used to search other users' computers for music to download for free. Instead of searching for music, an identity thief will type in credit cards, bank accounts and passwords. This is why it is important to never store personal and financial information on the same computer you use for file sharing. You may want to store personal information on a CD or external hard drive. Of course, you must also protect these from identity theft.
- Blogging is also growing in popularity, especially with teens and college students who want to have their own "voice." But identity thieves can troll blogs looking for unsuspecting bloggers, who quickly become their next victim of identity theft. Some safety tips, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to preventing identity theft, include never making your full name visible or your school, state address or zip code. Other personal information you must keep from allowing to be viewed are your job and its location, directions to your house, comments about how much money you or your family has, your personal email and links to a personal Web site with this type of personal information.
- When using a public computer, such as those at a public or school library, always fully log off rather than just closing down the browser.
- Campus computers and Wi-Fi hotspots are not always secure, so use anti-keylogging software to scramble communications over the network. Also, frequently change your passwords.
