Careful observation of bills can catch identity theft

The Union-Recorder (Milledgeville, Ga.) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge
Jan. 3, 2009

With the holiday shopping season over and bills beginning to arriving in the mail, now is the time to keep a watchful eye over your bank statements to ensure that you are not left a victim of identity fraud.

Saving receipts from purchases until after you've received your bank statements is just one way to prevent identity theft and fraud after the holiday season, said Milledgeville Police Department Deputy Chief Richard Malone.

"My number one suggestion for people would be to save any and all receipts of items purchased during the holiday period to be able to accurately look at bank statements, drafts or checks so that you can vouch for the form of payment that you used," said Malone.

"And in some cases it would be extremely helpful to keep receipts and documents for two months around the holiday period," added Malone, "because some of those purchases may not end up in just one bank statement due to the holiday period and the mail and all. They may end up in two statements.

"In addition to checking verifying your bank statement or credit card bill with your receipts, people should be careful about giving out any information over the phone or on the Internet unless the company can be verified somehow, Malone said.

"Do not give any personal information to anyone that may call you or try to solicit that type of information over the telephone," said Malone. "Ask if you can come in or set up an appointment to meet with someone, but do not release that information over the phone to someone that has not been able to give appropriate ID regarding what firm they work for.

"If you notice a discrepancy between the receipts that you have for your holiday gift purchases and your bank or credit card statements, there are several measures you can take to ensure the safety of your identity and remedy the problem, said Malone.

"If you feel that your identity has been compromised or documents belonging to you have been utilized in a criminal manner and you did not make these purchases, then you need to go ahead and report that to the police as soon as possible," said Malone.

"I would contact their accounts payable department and also the banks to allow them to know that someone may have unlawfully used your card or any financial document belonging to you," added Malone, "and again please file a police report because a lot of financial institutions will not do anything unless you have a police report on file.

"In addition, if you change financial institutions during the course of the year, it is important to make a note of the date that you opened or closed an account, said Malone, because if there is a discrepancy at any point the financial institution will be able to look up your account information without giving them important personal identification information over the phone.

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