Detecting fraud means casting wide net

Detecting some fraud means casting wide net Think you've heard most of the tips about preventing identity theft?

You know, shredding documents, checking your credit reports and credit-card statements, keeping your Social Security number to yourself and not falling for phishing schemes or the infamous Nigerian scam.

Actually, there's no such thing as identity-theft prevention, experts say. But, you can reduce your exposure. Here are some ways not often spoken about:

Check for fraudulent account activity in your name, urged Troy Allen, chief fraud solutions officer at Kroll Inc. in Nashville, Tenn. You're entitled to a free consumer report once a year from each of two data warehouses, the Shared Check Authorization Network, which has retailers among its clients, and Chex Systems Inc., whose members are financial institutions. If someone has opened an account using your name, the details will show up on these reports.

Check your Social Security earnings and benefits statement each year. Someone may have stolen or purchased your identity and used it to get a job in your name, as some illegal immigrants are suspected of doing at the Swift Inc. meat processing plants in Colorado, Allen said. "They need your name to live." You'll be liable for the taxes on all that income until you prove it's not yours.

Find out if someone has stolen medical services using your name. If you've applied for life, health or disability insurance during the past seven years, you can find out what insurers know about you by calling the Medical Information Bureau at (866) 692-6901, Allen said. Be sure the codes on your free report match your medical history.

Medical identity theft is "when somebody builds up hospital bills or other medical bills using your name and Social Security number," said Linda Foley, founder of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego. You are responsible for the charges, unless you successfully dispute them.

Health-care thieves may target your wallet, mailbox, discarded billing statements or a provider's database, said Alex Johnson, head of the special investigative unit at The Regence Group in Portland, Ore., an affiliation of health-care plans. Never give out your health-insurance number and be sure to study your medical bills and explanations of benefits just as you would a bank statement.

Don't let your teen download free music and videos. Not only does it illegally infringe copyrights, but cybercriminals can download a remote-control tool into the family computer that tracks everything anybody does on it, including typing in personal account numbers, warned Ken Colburn, founder of Data Doctors Franchise Systems Inc. in Tempe, Ariz.

Don't open e-greeting cards from strangers. You could be diverted to a third-party Web site that attaches a keylogger, sends it to your computer and then captures everything you do on it, said Roger Thompson, chief technology officer of Exploit Prevention Labs in Atlanta.

Don't carry your child's Social Security card and don't permit your teen to do so, urged the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc. Also, don't let your child post his or her phone number, address or school name online. It's a red flag if credit-card offers or other notifications start arriving in your child's name.

Delete personal information from company and family Web sites. Be sure your information is not available via online directories and searchable databases, said Tom Walton, vice president at AlliedBarton Security Services in King of Prussia, Pa.

If someone calls and says you failed to appear for jury duty, don't give out any personal information, Foley said. "No county in the country is going to call you and ask you for information like that to remind you that you've failed to show up for jury duty."

Ask for details if you get a seemingly mistaken call from a creditor, urged Troy Allen. Don't hang up. "Find out why they think you are that person, because you might be." Don't give out any personal information.

Use one low-limit credit card exclusively for Internet shopping, said Jim Ruel, a senior vice president at The Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.

"We haven't even begun scratching the surface of what's going on out there," said Kroll's Allen. "We're not even close"