Tom Cline announced at the November meeting of the Falcon Professional Development League that the Christmas social will be held on Dec. 14 at 7:30 a.m. at Grace Community Church. FPDL members and guests are invited.The meeting was short to accommodate El Paso County detectives, who presented information on identify theft, a topic that has been widely covered in the news lately (including the NFH).Detective Tim Raffety said three of the most common ways people steal IDs include “shoulder surfing at the ATM, stealing mail and dumpster diving,” Check washing, check creation software and corrupt postal employees add to the list of identity robbers.Raffety said in 2004 635,193 cases of identity theft were reported in the U.S. “But it’s only 50 percent of what actually goes on,” he said. Identify theft also is included with crimes labeled as something else. Colorado is No. 4 in the nation for identify theft, Raffety said, most likely because it is highly reported in the state.ID theft is a nightmare to the victim, who has to prove his or her innocence, he said.Raffety presented a few ideas to avoid identity theft:
- Don’t give out your social security number to just anyone. Ask for substitute numbers from your health insurance company or any other company that uses it to identify you.
- Collect your mail promptly, and don’t send mail from your mailbox.
- Get off credit marketing lists by calling 888-567-8688
- Don’t leave passwords and PIN numbers in your wallet, including your social security card.
- Don’t give personal information out over the phone – don’t randomly give it out via an e-mail.
- Check your credit report regularly.
- Check with your banks to see what they are doing about identity theft. Use common sense.
