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10 Tips to Prevent Thievings 10 Tips to Prevent Season's Thievings November 21, 2007 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor BankInfoSecurity You know “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving, when holiday shoppers flood the brick-and-mortar stores. But do you recall “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Thanksgiving – the most famous online shopping day of all? Cyber Monday originated with Shop.org in 2005. Since then, consumers have flooded websites each Cyber Monday. But right behind that surge of online shoppers come the identity thieves, says Anne Wallace, executive director of the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC). “Criminals consider personal data the ultimate gift,” Wallace says. Around 11 percent of online shoppers intend to do 75 percent or more of their holiday shopping online, according to a recent Forrester Research study, translating to $33 billion in 2007, up from last year’s $27 billion. Fraud losses related to U.S. e-commerce will top $3.6 billion in 2007, up 20% from last year, according to a report by the vendor CyberSource (View report: http://www.cybersource.com/news_and_events/view.xml?page_id=1649 ). The increase in dollar loss is due mostly to growing e-commerce sales, as the percentage of transactions that are fraudulent has held steady. The Identity Theft Assistance Center offers free assistance to victims of identity theft and helps law enforcement catch and convict criminals. Educating consumers is key to identity theft prevention. “Taking a few easy precautions while shopping during the holidays will help keep you from being a victim,” Wallace says. For financial institutions, educating customers isn’t just a good thing to do; by November 1, 2008, it will be a necessary part of every institution’s Identity Theft Prevention Program, (See related story: ID Theft Red Flags Update: Customer, Employee Education a Priority ) “Customer education will be expected, and it is very important. We’ve stressed it for a long time,” says Amy Friend, Assistant Counsel for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. As far back as 2000, the OCC published a brochure on identity theft. “We encouraged institutions to provide it to their customers,” Friend says. “We consider customer education quite important. It benefits the customers, and it benefits the institution. At the same time institutions will need to be reviewing their policies and procedures and educating their employees as well.” Here are some best practices for your customers to follow while observing Cyber Monday. Prevent Season’s Thievings -- 10 Rules for Safer Online Shopping 1. Shop only at Internet merchants you know and trust. If in doubt, check with the Better Business Bureau ( http://www.us.bbb.org/ ) 2. Never share your Internet passwords with anyone. Use different passwords for different Web sites. 3. Do not provide your social security number, birth date or mother’s maiden name in an email or within a Web site. When an email asks for this kind of information, this is a sure sign that the sender is up to no good. 4. Install the latest anti-virus software, anti-spyware and firewalls on your computer before shopping online.

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