SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Millions of people become the victim of identity theft in the US every year, but the State of Utah has set up a website to make it easier for ID theft victims to protect themselves.
There is still no sign of a lost thumb drive that contained the personal information of more than 6 thousand employees of the Canyons School District.
District officials hope to find the missing information before the crooks do, but until then they are warning their employees and any victim of id theft to take immediate action to protect them.
"Our information is out there, it's just a reality,” said Canyon District teacher Tony Romanello. His social security number, birth date and other sensitive information got compromised when his employer lost the master employee list. But Romanello said he isn't worried. "Is it unsettling? Is it something that I think that people should panic about, definitely not."
In addition to teaching, Romanello is also the President of the Canyon Education Association. He said the state has made it very easy for anyone to protect themselves from id theft.
The first step, go to this website at
http://idtheft.utah.gov and click on Education, then on Fraud Alert. Selecting the Initial Security Alert allows anyone to sign up for a free 90 service.
If you click a box on the screen anytime anyone tries to do anything with your credit the vendor will call you before they complete any transaction.
"Identity theft is a crime of opportunity, what we encourage people is take away the ability for somebody to do it to you,” said Utah Attorney General’s Office Chief Deputy Kirt Torgensen. He said the state spent hundreds of hours creating the id theft site because of the overwhelming increase in id theft crimes.
Torgensen said the site makes it easier to get an alert or even freeze a person's credit. But Torgensen said the best thing is prevention, protecting sensitive information from those who would steal it. "The mail is a really easy target. Once the mail man comes and delivers the mail there are people who will go out and get your mail looking for information."
Another problem area can be your garbage can. Torgensen said people should always shred sensitive documents not just throw them away. And investigators said a lot of id theft comes from inside the home where those with access use it or even sell it.
