College Students Easy Targets for ID Thieves

by Center for Personal Finance editors

• Almost 49% of college students receive credit card applications on a daily or weekly basis and 30% of students throw them out without destroying them;
• Nearly 48% of college students have had grades posted by Social Security number; and
• Close to 30% of students rarely, if ever, reconcile their credit card and checking account balances.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S., with 700,000 new victims every year. The victim has to clean up the mess identity thieves leave behind--which the average affected consumer pays more than $1,000 to clean up, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The best way to minimize your chances of being a victim is to:

• Shred all credit card approval offers;
• Monitor your credit card bills and credit union and/or bank statements;
• Don't leave mail or personal financial records lying around your apartment or dorm room; and
• Keep your Social Security number as private as possible. Request a randomly generated student ID number instead.

For more information about identity theft, read the Home & Family Finance Resource Center article, "Recovering From Identity Theft."

Published April 28, 2003

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