Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1002866
34 | Overdrive | July 2018 GUARDING YOUR DATA veteran of law enforcement with the Maryland State Police. There are dozens of ways people can have their identities compromised, but here are some key areas where truckers are particularly vulnerable, explained by Morris and other sources. DRIVER'S LICENSE. One routine prac- tice that puts drivers at risk is having to show their driver's license to shippers and receivers, who in some cases even copy it. Morris suggests drivers keep track of where they have shared their license information. If a shipper or receiver makes a copy, keep a record of the name of the employee who copied it, the date and the company name. Drivers also should try to watch how their license is handled since it could be scanned quickly with a smartphone app. Once someone has your driver's information, they have all they need to Google you and collect more informa- tion. If you're an independent owner- operator with a U.S. Department of Transportation number on your truck, that's another open door for a ship- per or receiver employee to gain more information. PUMPS AND ATMS. Skimming devices, installed at fuel pumps and automatic tellers, can be used to collect credit and debit card information. If you notice the keyboard or the card slot appears to be loose or otherwise ill-fitting, or if it's dif- ficult to scan your card's stripe, it's likely a skimming device. At least one app, Skimmer Scanner for Android devices, can detect skimmers. One other precau- tion is to avoid fuel pumps that can't be seen easily by truck stop personnel. Also avoid ATMs in low-traffic locations. At a pump or ATM, cover any num- bers you enter on a keyboard. Even if thieves aren't standing close by to watch, they can use small hidden cameras to collect that information. Reed says he doesn't use a credit or debit card much, but when he does, he's extra-vigilant about protecting card information by palming the card to cover its numbers. If he were still a driver, he says, he would try to use cash as much as possible or pay with a Comchek. MAIL. Drivers who don't return home nightly should recruit someone to pick up their mail daily or rent a post office box. To be extra-cautious about theft of outgoing mail with personal data, deposit it in U.S. Postal Service collec- tion boxes instead of your home mail- box. Likewise, shred papers with sensi- tive information before leaving them for garbage pickup, especially if the garbage is at curbside overnight. WI-FI NETWORK. Be wary of using public wi-fi at truck stops and elsewhere To catch potential identity theft early, routinely monitor your accounts and credit reports. Once you see evidence of data being compromised, such as unfa- miliar charges on your financial accounts, immediately contact your bank and other financial service providers. Each institu- tion can suspend your account under its existing number, issue a new number and offer further guidance. The Federal Trade Commission operates IdentityTheft.gov, a federal site with tips on how to protect your identity. You can report information about your identity theft on the site, and it will use that information to provide you with a free personalized recovery plan. The site will help you execute each recovery step and can pre-fill forms and letters for you. The agency also operates the FTC Identity Theft Hotline, 877-438-4338, which pro- cesses identity theft reports. Private identity theft resolution ser- vices also can help individuals repair their credit and take other steps to minimize the damage of identity theft. The Owner- Operator Independent Drivers Association offers two such plans to its members. The first, at $24 a year, provides identity management services such as helping members establish fraud alerts and assigning them a fraud specialist to help them restore their identity if it's compromised. The second, at $36 a year, offers identity management services and single credit bureau monitoring, which monitors for changes in your credit report through one of the bureaus. Credit repair services can be costly. The company contacted by then owner- operator Scott Reed to help him resolve his identity theft problems wanted over $8,000, with possible additional costs for private investigations. For a similar price, about $10,000, Reed was tempted to file for bankruptcy just so he could be done with it all, but he decided against it. "I'm not going to take responsibility for somebody else's debt that's not mine," he says. He ditched the identity theft resolution service and contacted the attorney gen- eral's office in his home state of Ohio. After filing some paperwork, Reed was able to do a lot of the heavy lifting himself for free. He also contacted sheriff's departments in states with warrants under his name, resolving most of that over the phone. RESPONDING TO IDENTITY THEFT In addition to guarding against bystanders watching you enter numbers at an auto-teller, avoid using the ATM if the keyboard or card slot feels or appears abnor- mal. It could be an indication of a skimming device that collects your personal information.