" ny Dy CoLbL.LEGeE LIFE Protecting Students From Identity Theft (NAPSA)—College can present some hard lessons when students fail to protect themselves from identity thieves. Some say college students are especially attractive targets for identity thieves because they have unblemished credit records. This can make it easier for thieves to take out loans in their name. Additionally, many students may not realize the potential for fraud and do not guard personal information as closely as they should. To help, the experts at the Affinion Security Center offer the following tips for college students: 1. Shredding documents can help ensure that papers with personal information are properly disposed of and do notfall into the wrong hands. Anything that has a student’s name and addresson it should be shredded in a crosscut shredder to be safe. This includes credit card offers, bills and finan- cial statements. 2. Students should check credit card and bank statements monthly—if not more frequently— for any unusual activity. A creditmonitoring service can be a valuable tool in fighting and detecting identity theft, helping alert students when any new accounts are openedin their name. 3. Create “strong” passwords. A strong password is one that is not easy to guess and it should include both numbers and capital letters, and possibly characters as well. 4, Students should never share debit card PIN numbers, passwords or Social Security numbers Shredding documents can help ensure that papers with personal information are properly disposed of and do notfall into the wrong hands. with anyone, or leave any documents with personal identifiable information lying around. 5. When purchasing a new computer, it’s wise to enable all security features and then keep anti-virus and spyware protection up to date. Also, use a password- locking system on your computer if it is left on while you are not present. 6. College students should beware of phishing scams—emails that appear to be from legitimate organizations asking the recipient to update his or her personal information. In most cases, the sender intends to steal the student’s identity to commit fraud. Affinion Security Center is a global leader in providing identity protection and data security solutions to corporations and individuals. For more information, visit www.affinionsecuritycenter.com.
