Local Radar

Sheriff's Office issues Identity Theft warning for Edgefield County
web posted November 15, 2005

EDGEFIELD - Recent events have brought to light how easy it is for scam artist to steal your identity and ruin your financial life. Last week, a scam artist contacted senior citizens in Edgefield County trying to get access to their checking account number.

Sheriff Dobey said, "Please do not give your checking account number to strangers over the phone, as well as any other numbers, including your social security number, date of birth, drivers license number, and also credit card numbers. When it comes to preventing identity theft, the only way to maintain power over your financial information is by limiting other people's knowledge of and access to it"

The average citizen can minimize their chance of becoming an identity theft victim by following the guidelines set out by the Federal Trade Commission and the Identity Theft Resource Center.

1.Check your credit reports once a year from all three of the credit reporting
agencies: Transunion (1-800-888-4123), www.transunion.com, Experian (1-888-397-3742), www.experian.com and Equifax (1-800-685-1111), www.equifax.com

2. Do not put your social security number or driver's license number on your check.

3. Watch for people whom seem to be eavesdropping on information you give out orally.

4. Place passwords on your credit card, bank and phone account.

5. Secure personal information hi your house, especially if you have roommates,
employ outside help or are having service work done at home.

6. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office, rather than in an unsecured mailbox.

7. Try not to store financial information on your laptop computer. If you do, use a
strong password - a combination of letter, number and symbols. Don't use the
automatic log-in feature that saves your user name and password so you don't
have to enter them each time you log hi or visit a website. That way, if your
laptop is stolen, it's harder for the thief to access your personal information.

For more information, residents are encouraged to contact the Edgefield County Sheriffs Office at (803) 637-5337 or (803) 278-1625.

Editor's Note: A free annual credit report is also available online by the federal government.
 

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