Did you know that anyone can be a victim of identity theft? Looks like not even the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, immune to it.
According to USA Today, identity thieves stole his wife's purse last August from a Capital Hill Starbucks. It doesn't appear that the Bernanke's were personally targeted as there were over 500 families involved.
What was in Mrs. Bernanke's purse? Her drivers license, Social Security card, four credit cards and a book of checks from the couple's joint bank account. You would think the federal reserve chairman's wife would know better than to keep her Social Security card in her purse.
With your drivers license, social security card and a credit card, the identity thieves have all they need to assume your identity and wreck your finances. If you currently have your social security card in your purse or wallet, remove it now and put it in a safe place.
Here is a 3 part series I wrote on Avoiding Identity Theft:
Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 1
Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 2
Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 3
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i think identity thiefes are getting better and better.
The SS card was the least of it. Did you know they had their ACCOUNT number printed on their checks??
Did she have the purse on her or did she set it down and walk away from it? I'm still amazed that people come into the bank every day saying they left their purse or wallet on the front seat of their car and it was broken into and stolen. NEVER leave anything tempting in your car. Always take it out. I don't care if you're at your local Starbucks or Subway and you will be in there 5 minutes.
And account numbers are always printed on checks, which is why you should never keep them with you unless you write checks on a daily basis, which most of us don't thanks to online billpay. So even if you just write your electric company a check and the mail gets lost, your account number is still vulnerable. Online billpay doesn't print your account number on the checks or it can even be sent electronically from your bank.