Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Tips for Avoiding Identity Theft

Aired December 02, 2002 - 10:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Identity theft is frightfully easy, and it can be a long time before you discover you're a victim of it. A seasonal spike in online shopping and a high-profile bust last week of a huge identity theft ring put this topic at the top of our "Daily Money" segment.
"Smart Money" magazine's senior financial correspondent Gerri Willis is back with us again from Boston with our top five tips for avoiding and ID ripoff.

Good to see you, Gerri. How are you.

GERRI WILLIS, "SMART MONEY": Good to see you, Leon. I'm fine.

HARRIS: Good.

Let's talk about this. This has got to be a big concern for a lot of people considering how many more people are expected to shop online this year. Let's look at your tips that you have got. What is first tip that you have for folks this morning?

WILLIS: We don't want you to share your private information. Look, people usually guard their credit card numbers with their lives, right? You worry about losing that. But they don't think about their Social Security number, and that is the key to your identity. To the extent that you can, you want to guard that: not give it out over the Web, not give it out in stores, keep it a secret. Also keep to yourself details of your life that could tell thieves who you are: your wage, your sex, your gender, your year of birth. They can take all this obscure information, put it together and steal your identity.

HARRIS: But they can't send that information to be gotten -- not from you, but from other sources. Kind of hard to protect your information like that if other people have that information.

WILLIS: Right. That's why it has to come from you originally. So you want to keep as much of that information to yourself as you possibly can.

HARRIS: Next up, you say to make routine checks of your credit report.

WILLIS: Right. Every year, you want to check in with the big credit bureaus: Equifax, Experion, and Transunion. All of these companies are on the Web. You can buy a report for about $9 each. You know, it's worth noting here, Leon, there are a lot of companies that have emerged to start selling identity theft protection and they want to charge you anywhere from $60 to $200; you can do most of this on your own. Here's a good example. Check the credit bureaus. And you want to see whether anybody's making unauthorized charges on your credit cards.

But also, you want to see if somebody's opened a fraudulent account in your name, which you may not see for six months, a year -- you may never know about it till somebody stops paying. So make sure you check in with those credit bureaus.

HARRIS: That's a really good idea. Do you have to pay for these credit reports in all cases, or is there anyway you can you get them for free?

WILLIS: In some states they are free. You want to check at each of these Web sites because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) whether you can get it for free in your state. There are a handful where they're free.

HARRIS: Next up, you say to dispose of sensitive papers carefully. I'm assuming you mean shredding?

WILLIS: Right. You know, most of us think of this as a high- tech crime, that it has to be done over the Web, but look, these thieves steal information by eavesdropping on your conversation, by Dumpster diving, by going through people's garbage, their trash, so you want to make sure that you are getting rid of really sensitive documents carefully, either by shredding them, by tearing them up into tiny, little pieces so people can't get that all-important Social Security number.

HARRIS: That's a good one.

How about home owner's insurance. Didn't you say there's a possibility can help out in a case like this?

WILLIS: I told you before that a lot of companies have come out to sell you protection, but you may find that your homeowner's insurance already carries some kind of coverage for identity theft and they're not charging you a thing for it. Chubb is one of these companies that offers theft protection. You just want to check in with your insurer and see if you have that kind of coverage. It could offer you some hope if you are -- have to get a lawyer to help you in one of these cases. So definitely worth checking out.

HARRIS: Interesting.

Finally this morning: firewalls on your computer.

WILLIS: Right. This is the big increase in identity theft -- is over especially personal PCs, because unlike the computer systems that you use at work, you're less like to have firewalls. These are these electronic guard dogs, you can think of them as, for your PC. You might want to check ZoneAlarm is a good software that you can buy to set up to protect your PC.

HARRIS: Very good. Gerri Willis, home run again, appreciate it. Gerri Willis, "Smart Money" magazine, we'll see you later on. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 2, 2002 - 10:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Identity theft is frightfully easy, and it can be a long time before you discover you're a victim of it. A seasonal spike in online shopping and a high-profile bust last week of a huge identity theft ring put this topic at the top of our "Daily Money" segment.
"Smart Money" magazine's senior financial correspondent Gerri Willis is back with us again from Boston with our top five tips for avoiding and ID ripoff.

Good to see you, Gerri. How are you.

GERRI WILLIS, "SMART MONEY": Good to see you, Leon. I'm fine.

HARRIS: Good.

Let's talk about this. This has got to be a big concern for a lot of people considering how many more people are expected to shop online this year. Let's look at your tips that you have got. What is first tip that you have for folks this morning?

WILLIS: We don't want you to share your private information. Look, people usually guard their credit card numbers with their lives, right? You worry about losing that. But they don't think about their Social Security number, and that is the key to your identity. To the extent that you can, you want to guard that: not give it out over the Web, not give it out in stores, keep it a secret. Also keep to yourself details of your life that could tell thieves who you are: your wage, your sex, your gender, your year of birth. They can take all this obscure information, put it together and steal your identity.

HARRIS: But they can't send that information to be gotten -- not from you, but from other sources. Kind of hard to protect your information like that if other people have that information.

WILLIS: Right. That's why it has to come from you originally. So you want to keep as much of that information to yourself as you possibly can.

HARRIS: Next up, you say to make routine checks of your credit report.

WILLIS: Right. Every year, you want to check in with the big credit bureaus: Equifax, Experion, and Transunion. All of these companies are on the Web. You can buy a report for about $9 each. You know, it's worth noting here, Leon, there are a lot of companies that have emerged to start selling identity theft protection and they want to charge you anywhere from $60 to $200; you can do most of this on your own. Here's a good example. Check the credit bureaus. And you want to see whether anybody's making unauthorized charges on your credit cards.

But also, you want to see if somebody's opened a fraudulent account in your name, which you may not see for six months, a year -- you may never know about it till somebody stops paying. So make sure you check in with those credit bureaus.

HARRIS: That's a really good idea. Do you have to pay for these credit reports in all cases, or is there anyway you can you get them for free?

WILLIS: In some states they are free. You want to check at each of these Web sites because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) whether you can get it for free in your state. There are a handful where they're free.

HARRIS: Next up, you say to dispose of sensitive papers carefully. I'm assuming you mean shredding?

WILLIS: Right. You know, most of us think of this as a high- tech crime, that it has to be done over the Web, but look, these thieves steal information by eavesdropping on your conversation, by Dumpster diving, by going through people's garbage, their trash, so you want to make sure that you are getting rid of really sensitive documents carefully, either by shredding them, by tearing them up into tiny, little pieces so people can't get that all-important Social Security number.

HARRIS: That's a good one.

How about home owner's insurance. Didn't you say there's a possibility can help out in a case like this?

WILLIS: I told you before that a lot of companies have come out to sell you protection, but you may find that your homeowner's insurance already carries some kind of coverage for identity theft and they're not charging you a thing for it. Chubb is one of these companies that offers theft protection. You just want to check in with your insurer and see if you have that kind of coverage. It could offer you some hope if you are -- have to get a lawyer to help you in one of these cases. So definitely worth checking out.

HARRIS: Interesting.

Finally this morning: firewalls on your computer.

WILLIS: Right. This is the big increase in identity theft -- is over especially personal PCs, because unlike the computer systems that you use at work, you're less like to have firewalls. These are these electronic guard dogs, you can think of them as, for your PC. You might want to check ZoneAlarm is a good software that you can buy to set up to protect your PC.

HARRIS: Very good. Gerri Willis, home run again, appreciate it. Gerri Willis, "Smart Money" magazine, we'll see you later on. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com