These days, many students have smartphones that seem almost inseparable from their being. With this in mind, Scott Robbins, UTM’s Director of Public Safety on campus, said that students should be wary of potential internet scams on campus.
“One reason why university students should be aware of identity theft is because they are more likely to be a victim of identity theft. [This is] because their credit is established and they don’t check it as often as someone in their 30’s or 40’s would,” Robbins said.
For those who do not know, identity theft is the act of someone assuming another person’s identity for the purpose of taking credit or even other benefits in other person’s name.
“They get all these credit card applications coming in the mail and thieves tend to follow them around, pick up that information real easy and get their credit card and their number,” Robbins said.
Robbins said that identity theft is more common in this area than one might think.
“We’ve had four reports since 2006. I’m sure there’s been more victims, but they probably reported to their hometown police departments and there are some people right now that don’t even know they are a victim,” Robbins said.
Recently there has been an increase in identity scams involving people using legitimate-looking, fake emails from trusted companies such as the online paying service PayPal and Regions Bank, stating there’s an account error and asking for the user’s personal information, such as a credit card, to correct it.
“The UTM system has had some Regions Bank and PayPal issues that I think now they are able to catch it before it goes out to the emails, but we’ve had some reports now of people getting those emails,” Robbins said.
Robbins said that a student’s smartphone is also a possible target for theft, as most phones use unsecure wireless networks and keep personal information, such as pin numbers that people can easily access if the phone does not have a password.
“[A cell phone is] one of the places they’ll first look,” Robbins said.
What can be done about this, however, is surprisingly simple. One thing that students can do to protect themselves is to keep their driver’s license and their social security cards separate and limit the use of buying anything online to a personal computer. Things such as approvals or deactivated credit cards should be shredded due to personal information they contain. Students should be mindful of what companies say on the phone or email as well.
“If they’re legitimate they’re not going to ask you for information that they should already have,” Robbins said.
If a student has become the victim of identity fraud, he or she is advised to contact the affected company’s fraud department. There is also a 1-800 social security fraud hotline number for compromised social security: 1-800-269-0271.
“File a report with your local police department, and keep records of everything you’ve done,” Robbins said.
You can also contact Robbins at sdrobbins@utm.edu.
