TAKE PRECAUTIONS
Portability makes laptops prime target
Laptop computers are portable and can make an overwhelming amount of information available at the touch of a finger.
They are also an easy target for identity thieves.
“We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of how often these stories are coming to the surface,” said Andy Trask, one of the founders of Geek Housecalls in Burlington.
Trask’s five-year-old firm, which has about 14,000 customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire, sometimes gets calls from people who claim they have forgotten their password and are unable to open their laptop’s programs.
But unless they have a sales receipt or another way of showing that the laptop is theirs, Geek Housecalls denies their requests.
“I can pack our entire database with all of our customers’ and my employees’ information on my laptop and walk out the door,” Trask said. “Laptops are targeted because of their portability. Leaving one in a car is never a good idea.”
George Tsantes, a spokesman for Intersections Inc., a Chantilly, Va.-based company that offers identity theft protection services to individuals and small businesses, said his firms’ laptops are encoded to prevent sensitive data from being unscrambled.
“All businesses need to do this,” said Tsantes, whose firm charges a monthly fee ranging from $7 to $13 for its services. “Most companies don’t realize what’s on their (laptops) until it’s too late,” he said.
Susan Grant, vice president of public policy for the National Consumers League in Washington, said consumers have to hope that the businesses or agencies they deal with are taking the necessary precautions to keep personal information on laptops a secret.
“What consumers can do is monitor their credit report regularly,” Grant said.
When thieves are after your money,
both cash and credit have their downsides
The Patriot Ledger
For Bette MacLeod, it was like one of those Citibank identity theft commercials come to life.
Someone had used the 70-year-old Plymouth retiree’s credit card number to purchase surfboards on eBay.
MacLeod laughs about it now. But when she first learned her information was stolen, it was no joke.
She rarely used credit cards prior to the incident, and is even more reluctant to do so now.
“One time I used my credit card in a restaurant, someone must have copied the number,” MacLeod recalled. “I was so surprised when I got the bill.”
Recent data breaches at local retailers such as TJX Cos. and Stop & Shop have left many consumers in the region concerned about the likelihood they could be affected by identity theft.
MacLeod was lucky: Her problem was quickly identified and resolved. But she worries about others when reads about people whose lives and finances are thrown into chaos for years due to identity theft.
Some consumers have adopted personal plans for protection that range from exclusively using debit cards to avoiding plastic altogether.
But identity theft experts and consumer advocates say there is no foolproof solution - and what you think might be helping, could wind up hurting you.
Sheila Gordon, director of victims services at the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, said the best defense is vigilance.
“There is no 100 percent guaranteed way to protect your identity,” Gordon said. “But there are very proactive steps you can take, such as using annual credit reports to monitor your history.”
Consumers are entitled to one free copy of their credit report annually from each of the three major reporting agencies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Edgar Dworsky, founder of consumerworld.org and former a Massachusetts assistant attorney general in consumer protection, strongly recommends checking all three - but not all at once.
“Space it out, request one every four months so over a year’s time you get a continuing picture,” Dworsky said. “You’ll see if any accounts may have been opened in your name that aren’t really yours.”
This type of self-check should also carry over to individual credit and bank accounts. Consumers should take advantage of online access to their accounts and check them regularly, Dworsky said.
“It isn’t enough nowadays to wait until the next bank statement or credit statement comes in the mail,” he said. “(Online) you can see transactions that occurred between paper statements.”
If there are irregularities in those transactions, you could be weeks ahead in reporting them.
For those OK with checking accounts online, but skittish about shopping on the Internet, Dworsky said a lesser known but highly recommended option is getting a virtual credit card number.
Many credit card companies offer these to customers who sign up to manage their accounts online. Essentially the customer gets a “disposable” credit card number to use for online purchases. The customer decides how long it will be good for and how much the line of credit will be.
“If I’m shopping online with a merchant I’m not familiar with and don’t want to give them my real credit card number, I can create a disposable one,” Dworsky explained. “If the item is $13.99, I’ll make a $15 credit limit.
If the number is stolen because someone hacks into the merchant’s database, all they’ll get for their efforts is a dollar’s worth of credit on a useless account.
When it comes to credit versus debit, several South Shore shoppers said they felt safer using a debit card. After all, the cash you spend is “real” money from your checking or savings account.
But Gordon points out the advantage that credit cards have for just that reason: It’s your real money - when it’s gone, it’s gone.
“If a credit card is stolen, and reported in a timely fashion, there’s a little more of a buffer there than if it’s actually taking money out of your bank account,” Gordon said. “There’s a completely different set of laws involved.”
Theft of a credit card can be investigated and charges on it wiped clean. When actual money is stolen, it’s harder to replace. Some banks won’t refund the money if you don’t report the theft within a certain time period of time.
Making yourself a cash-only customer, while it reduces your vulnerability, isn’t always the best answer, either.
Dworsky understands the urge to ditch bank cards, but doesn’t support it.
“It’s an extreme reaction to the situation, given that any one individual’s chance of having their identity stolen is remote at best, particularly at a store that’s just been hit,” he said.
Dworsky said he hasn’t seen a major change in consumer behavior in the face of several highly publicized identity theft cases.
“Some people have the attitude, ‘The banks will eat the cost, (so) why worry?’” he said. “The trouble with that is everyone has to be partnered here to help reduce the problem, to be on alert if something improper happens.”
Karen Goulart may be reached at kgoulart@ledger.com.