Photo by Lexi Coon.
Det. Don Garrett speaks about identity theft on Oct. 26.
It can take a matter of days for someone to become a victim of identity theft but years to recover. To help protect residents from this criminal activity, the Mountain Brook Police Department held an information session about identity theft on Oct. 26.
The theme of the evening was “Deter, Detect, Defend: Avoid identity theft” and Detectives Don Garrett and Kenneth Moore reviewed ways residents can arm themselves against criminals who aren’t afraid to go through dumpsters to get information.
Deter
Garrett first suggested protecting any personal information, including that which can be found on bank statements, bills and other financial documents, as well as personal IDs, social security cards and medicare cards. Current medicare cards may have patient’s social security numbers listed on them, he said, although new ones without the number are supposed to be issued within the next year.
People should never give out information over the phone, either, especially if they do not recognize the phone number, Garrett said. If someone calls and claims to be from a business or organization asking for a credit card number for an “unpaid fee” or for other information, Garrett advised to hang up and call back after finding a number that is definitely connected to the business or organization.
To prevent paperwork from getting into the wrong hands, Garrett said to keep track of mail and to shred any financial documents or documents with personal information before tossing them in the trash.
“Identity thieves will go through trash [and mail] to get documents with information,” Garrett said.
Detect
If possible, he said people should sign up for email delivery of bills and other documents when available, although at that point should to be sure they have a secure password to protect themselves. This entails a combination of letters, both capitalized and lowercase, numbers and special symbols.
People should use this rule of thumb for their personal social media accounts as well, he said, and never click on a suspicious or unknown link that may appear to be sent by a “friend” either via email or social media. Garrett said hackers will often hack people’s accounts and send an en-mass message to their friends list with a link that leads to ransomware or allows the hackers to access personal information.
Garrett also said to avoid accessing personal accounts while on public wifi because oftentimes, it is not protected from hackers. But to keep an eye on personal accounts, people should check their credit regularly.
Federal law, Garrett said, entitles people to one are report each year from each nationwide credit reporting agency; to maximize overview of your credit, Garrett suggested staggering reports throughout the year. This will allow people to see if any unknown charges have come up or if someone has opened an unauthorized account in their name.
Defend
In the event that someone is hacked by a criminal or their identity is stolen, Garrett and Moore said victims should immediately close all credit accounts, contact the local police and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Moore said too that Jefferson County in particular has seen an uptick in phone scams in the last year, and if someone calls to pressure you into giving money for one reason or another, to hang up. Often, the criminals will try to threaten the individual with arrest if they hang up, but Garrett said that is a tactic used to maintain control of the situation.
“These people are very convincing,” Garrett said. “We try to stay a step ahead of the criminal, but they’re always trying to find a way to defeat what we’ve come up with.”
To learn more about protecting yourself against identity theft and scams, visit ftc.gov/scams. To register for the National Do Not Call List, go to donotcall.gov. To file a report of identity theft, go to identitytheft.gov and call your local police.
