With the arrival of Labor Day weekend comes the official end of summer, and millions of students – from eager freshmen to seasoned seniors – will head back to colleges and universities across the nation, if they have not left already. While most will be thinking of what classes to take and majors to choose, one lesson that should be taught to students while at school is how to avoid identity theft.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) – a nonprofit, nationally respected organization dedicated exclusively to the understanding and prevention of identity theft – various studies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint study, reveal that the 18- to 29-year-old age bracket continues to account for almost one-quarter (24 percent) of all identity theft complaints.  Unfortunately, this “identity theft vulnerable” age bracket usually coincides with the years in which individuals do the following for the first time:

• Move away from home & family;
• Attend schools with thousands of NEW classmates (i.e. strangers);
• Rent apartments and housing;
• Open individual bank accounts;
• Receive first credit & debit cards;
• Travel without supervision;
• Apply for employment; and,
• Purchase first “big” ticket items such as cars and homes.

Now imagine trying to successfully accomplish all of these “major firsts” of life after suffering from identity theft, the fastest growing type of crime in America?

According to the 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report released by Javelin Strategy & Research, the number of identity theft and fraud victims has increased almost one-quarter (22 percent) in the past year to affect nearly 10 million adults in the United States. Identity theft and fraud – defined as the unauthorized use of another person’s personal information to achieve illicit financial gain – can strike anyone, anywhere, and at any time, but students and young adults are at a particularly vulnerable time in their lives and identity theft could lead to more problems later on in life.

In order to help prevent identity theft and other scams they might encounter while living on their own for the first time, the ITRC offers several identity theft prevention tips for college students, including:

• Keep Social Security Card or Social Security Number (SSN) – the most desired information in identity theft – in a safe place. Do not carry it.
• Don’t share SSNs with anyone without knowing why they need it.  Schools should use student identification numbers instead of the SSNs.
• Safely store laptop containing personal information when not in use.
• Be wary of identity theft exposure while on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Twitter.
• Never loan a driver’s license or identification card to anyone. They could use it as an ID card when stopped by the police.
• Once credit has been established credit, check credit reports annually for signs of identity theft.

By avoiding the harsh lesson of identity theft, sudents will get a better start on their next stage in life: work. Since students will eventually have to find employment after graduation, they will most likely also have to pass a pre-employment background check since over 80 percent of U.S. businesses now perform such background checks on prospective employees. Employers usually run criminal background checks and sometimes check credit reports, so students nearing graduation may want to get a leg up on the competition by performing "personal" background checks on themselves.

Learning what a potential employer will see in a background check before they see it helps the student turned jobseeker along the path to employment. At the same time, personal background checks can also detect criminal identity theft, such as when one person commits a crime in another person's name, and helps keep personal information up-to-date, accurate, and secure.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading supplier of consumer requested "personal" background checks that individuals use as students, jobseekers, renters, volunteers, and consumers who want to avoid identity theft. For more information on how personal background checks can fight identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

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