Students at high risk for ID theft

You're treating some business partners to lunch. You slide out your credit card and hand it to the waiter, only to be politely met by the manager a few minutes later, who whispers that your card has been rejected. How embarrassing. But hey, it happens to everyone at some point.

Now imagine that you're applying for a mortgage. The loan officer leans over his desk to inform you that you've been rejected. Your credit rating is through the roof and unbeknownst to you, you've been vacationing in Aspen all winter. The collection agency is after you. You don't know how, but someone has stolen your identity, and it may not have even been your fault.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses personally identifying information, such as a credit card, driver's license or social security number, to commit theft or fraud.

According to the Department of Education, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes against consumers, affecting over 10 million people in 2003 and costing victims over $5 billion. Not only is identity theft financially costly, as most victims are forced to pay out or their own pockets to repair the damage, but a recent survey conducted by the Identity Theft Resource Center revealed that the average amount of time spent by victims clearing up identity theft is about 600 hours.

To make matters worse, the crime is often misclassified, and the very nature of it makes it very difficult to catch thieves. In fact, a 2003 Gartner research survey reported that perpetrators have only a one in 700 chance of being caught by federal authorities.

"4.6 percent of population are victims are victims of identity theft," explains Jordana Beebe, Communications Director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "If that were a disease, it would be an epidemic."

And it's only getting worse. Gartner revealed that identity theft grew nearly 80 percent from 2002 to 2003.

How does the incidence of such a widespread crime continue to grow so much annually?

"We've known of identity theft for over ten years now and it continues to grow exponentially," Beebe says.

The problem, as Beebe points out, is that the credit industry, which relies on getting credit out as quickly as possible, hasn't stepped to the plate to combat identity theft. This occurs because credit applications are rarely checked for correct name spelling, address and phone number. Thus, once he or she has a name and social security number, there's no stopping what a thief could do.

"If [the credit industry] would take a better look at the information on a credit application, they could basically stop identity theft in its tracks," Beebe explains.

Unfortunately, most victims rarely take the proper precautions against identity theft and also fail to report it properly. According to a poll taken by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 60% of all identity theft victims in 2003 did not notify any police department. A recent national survey taken by the Department of Education reported that 48% of college student respondents admitted to keeping personal financial information in their dorm room, and 31% said their dorm building had been burglarized.

Even more alarming to college students is that the largest percentage of identity theft complaints from the 2003 FTC report (28%) came from people in the 18-29 age range. And it's not just happening in other parts of the country. Maryland ranked 11th on the list of identity theft rates by state in 2003, with over 4,700 victims. The most widely reported type of identity theft was credit card fraud (37%), followed by phone or utilities fraud (22%) and bank fraud (18%).

Yet Beebe doesn't believe that age necessarily makes anyone more or less vulnerable. "It's more in terms of the way colleges operate," she explains. "Regardless of a person's age, they can be victims. You can even see identity theft on people who have passed away."

Many universities continue to use social security numbers as identification numbers for students for posting grades and for registration. Timecards for work study students also often have social security numbers on them.

"[College is] really a hotbed for identity theft activity," says Beebe.

The administration realizes that Hopkins clearly is not an exception, as the issue of posting grades and other information using social security number has become increasingly prevalent. The university is now phasing out the use of social security numbers as identification numbers.

"We're making every effort to put together technical and management solutions that will limit disclosure of private information for students and employees at Hopkins," explains Hopkins Chief Information Security Officer Darren Lacey. The Information Security Institute at Hopkins is now running a risk assessment of all the systems that collect private information.

The next step will be to generate six-digit alphanumeric unique identification (UID) numbers for all students and staff that will be used only for internal business at Hopkins.

At this point, many professors, especially in larger classes, still use social security numbers as identifiers. "What I do tell professors is to be aware of private information," explains Lacey. "We're working with that issue so they know that there are other numbers they can use besides social security."

"[The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has] been hearing more and more from students and schools who are concerned about identity theft," Beebe says. "In theory, universities might be held liable for identity theft."

Beebe points out that there is no way to completely prevent identity theft. But there are ways to minimize the risk.

Although Internet fraud is something to look out for, identity theft is often a low-tech crime that targets people in a variety of other ways.

According to Beebe, one major way to minimize identity theft risk is to make sure your mail is secure. It's very common, for example, for college students to receive pre-approved credit cards in the mail. The best way to not only minimize identity theft and also decrease junk mail is for students to opt out of such offers by calling 888-5-OPTOUT.

Beebe also recommends shredding any kind of private information before throwing it away, and sending any mail with such information directly from the post office, not from a home mailbox.

Anyone who owns a credit card should also check his/her credit report to make sure his/her credit rating is where it should be. If you find that it's not, or get a notice from a collection agency, you can put a fraud alert on your account through any of the three major credit bureaus, who will in turn notify the other two.

The practices of credit companies and universities coupled with the financial inexperience that many students possess makes college students prime targets for identity theft. But with the proper precautions, you can actually take part in your Aspen vacation. Or just a simple business lunch.