April 23, 2004

Protecting your identity

"Identity theft is the fastest growing crime — one in three people are affected by it," said Bonnie Michelman, director of MGH Police, Security and Outside Services, at a seminar "Safeguarding Your Identity from Theft" April 8 in the Wellman Conference Room.

Michelman, John Daley, manager of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of MGH Police and Security, and Karen Leary, an SIU investigator, spoke about how identity theft happens, how a thief uses the information, what steps can be taken to prevent identity theft and what action to take if it occurs.

According to Michelman, the best ways to prevent identity theft are to secure valuables at work, empty wallets or purses of extra credit cards, order credit reports once a year to check activity, memorize passwords and social security numbers and report stolen or lost credit cards immediately.

Additional sessions will be held at the MGH and CNY in the next few months.
For more information about identity theft, call Police and Security at
(617) 726-2121.

Identity theft complaints from Massachusetts victims:
January 1 — December 31, 2003

Rank Identity theft type Percentage:

1. Credit card fraud 41%
2. Phone or utilities fraud 22%
3. Bank fraud 13%
4. Employment-related fraud 6%
5. Government documents 6%
or benefits fraud
6. Loan fraud 5%
Other 18%
Attempted identity theft 10%

Percentages add up to more than 100 because approximately 19 percent of victims from Massachusetts reported experiencing more than one type of identity theft.

* Data received from the Federal Trade Commission.