I just recently purchased some tickets online for a Bucks' game. The purchase was followed by a phone call indicating my debit card was invalid. This phone call then led to an hour of shocking conversation between my bank and their fraud prevention service who politely informed me I had been the victim of identity fraud.
As a frequent Internet user and informed citizen, I was well aware of identity fraud and its slowly rising existence, but never thought it would happen to me. In many cases victims are not as lucky as I; identity fraud can lead to the loss of thousands of dollars never accounted for or reimbursed. I was fortunate enough to escape this loss when the UW System came promptly to my rescue. Considering the circumstances, I was extremely impressed with the efficient manner in which my situation was handled, as well as the efforts made by UW Credit Union employees to keep me calm throughout the process. After being informed of the exact transactions that had been attempted to be made on my card, the quick joint decision of myself and my bank to cancel my debit card, and the sound word that my account would be covered and reimbursed for any fraudulent transactions, I was able to regard the occurrence as a valuable lesson and move on.
While I am extremely grateful for being contacted by the fraud service in such a prompt and timely fashion, I question why it is only UW Credit Union members that are so well endowed with the benefits of this program. Certainly a significant amount of bankers and other credit card owners would be happy to be reassured the way I was; to be warned with a three-page pamphlet regarding the dangers of ordering online and what measures their bank was taking in order to minimize unexpected consequences. Because the transactions made on behalf of my card number were caught so quickly, I never truly had the chance to feel what it is to be robbed blind. However, 9.9 million Americans became identity fraud victims in 2002 alone (more than 27,000 a day), and without the ID theft insurance, they are subject to extreme losses and a feeling of helplessness as they are forced to face the dilemma alone.
Many in the banking industry do little more than make vague suggestions for avoiding fraud. These include making orders over the phone, making passwords difficult to identify and avoiding luring e-mails. I certainly plan to use the phone when ordering in the future. However, the false promise of security is so ubiquitous from site to site that we are misled as to the true extent of security online. In addition, I have always made an effort to produce passwords not commonly associated with myself. Furthermore, I never open questionable e-mails, ever. So what is the chance I, a one-time Internet shopper, was caught in the middle of this fraudulent mess?
Well, there remains an important answer to this question. It turns out this fraud might have been aided by \spyware,"" software that makes computers more vulnerable to viruses on my computer. In fact, just this past week, Congress passed an anti-spyware legislation to reduce the damage these programs can have on computers, despite their occasionally helpful tactics. This movement was quickly ignored by many who felt more important legislation was pending, but for victims like myself, such legislation is a means of prevention and hope. While I would be forced to choose between the annoyance of viruses or theft, there are actually many anti-virus programs that do not fall under this legislation and will provide protection from both of these frustrating situations.
The lesson to be taken from this experience is one of vigilance. Not every Internet site will lead to my fate, but it is important to consider the consequences of posting personal information so frivolously for the world to see. As my father would wisely say, and I think many of us would agree, there are sufficient glitches to computer technology as more and more bits of personal data become lost in cyber space. Call me and my father old fashioned if you will, but with losses from identity fraud totaling over $53 billion, it might not be such a bad idea to use a little caution on the net.
