UC Davis Information & Educational Technology

Cyber-Safety Basics: Prevent Identity Theft

Prevent Identity Theft

Why should you take actions to prevent identity theft? Because victims of identity theft may:

  • Be arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
  • Lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars to thieves and/or to fees for cleaning up financial records.
  • Spend countless hours clearing personal records.
  • Be refused loans for housing or cars due to poor credit resulting from identity theft.

To help prevent identity theft:

  • Order a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Make sure it's accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized.
  • Don't send personal information via email or IM or online forms you access via a link in an email or IM. These are often part of "phishing" scams, a form of fraud that uses email messages that appear to be from a reputable business (often a financial institution) in an attempt to gain personal or account information.
  • Place hard-to-guess passwords on your credit card, bank, and phone accounts and keep them secret.
  • When shopping online, make sure the site is secure by looking for the padlock icon in the corner of the page that asks you to input your personal information.
  • Encrypt personal information or store it on portable media and lock it in a drawer.
  • Lock up your computer with a cable and set an account password to login.
  • Use a paper shredder when throwing out personal information.
  • Protect others' information as you do your own.
  • See Identity Theft Recovery Resources if you believe you have been the victim of identity theft.