Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report that indicated that young adults are at high risk for identity theft.

According to the report, youth spending longer periods of time online are putting themselves at high risk for exposing personal information. People between 18-29 experienced the highest levels of identity theft with 31% of total thefts.

College students do not realize how serious the threat of identity theft actually is, said Johnny May, certified identity theft risk management specialist and author of “Johnny May’s Guide to Preventing Identity Theft.”
“I think [students] believe they don’t have anything worth losing,” May said. “The reality is this makes is easier for identity theft to occur.”

Youth are not overly proactive in the area of I.D. theft security, most figure they don’t have much worth stealing. Therefore, they do not follow the basic steps to prevent identity theft. Youth should be encouraged to shred any documents with personal information, get an updated credit report, install antivirus software, and use a firewall.

“College students need to treat their personal information as if it were gold,” May said. Once it is out there, you can’t take it back.”

Via State Hornet ; hat tip to flying hamster ; Tags: identity theft, youth, id theft, id theft prevention, security