College Students 5 Times Likelier to be Identity Theft Victims

Facebook Messenger’s latest privacy settings strike fear in college students. What these students don’t realize is that Facebook Messenger’s supposed invasion is the least of their concerns when it comes to privacy and identity theft.

College students are five times more likely to be a victim of identity theft than the general public. Why? Too close of quarters, and not enough precautions, including:

• Dorm rooms – Shared quarters make bank statements and personal papers easily accessible to prying eyes.
• Free downloads – The constant search for free music, video, app and game downloads leads to websites that include keystroke-logging malware along with their ‘free’ downloads.
• Coffee shop WiFi – Studying students use free WiFi in coffee shops and other public places without thinking of the direct, public line it gives to their personal devices and information.
• Social media – A Twitter play-by-play of the basketball game you’re at, or posting your birthday and hometown on Facebook only increase the chances of identity thieves guessing security questions.
• Poor passwords – College students are notoriously terrible at creating strong passwords, using the same pet name posted on Facebook as their password for every device and account.

Steve Weisman, cyber security expert, lawyer, author of Identity Theft Alert and founder ofwww.scamicide.com tells how to battle the close quarters and poor precautions. College students will learn when to use public WiFi, how to create strong passwords, which websites to avoid, and rules of thumb for social media sharing.

About Steve Weisman
Steve Weisman, BA, JD, is one of the country’s leading experts on scams and identity theft and has been featured on CBS News, ABC, Fox, NPR, PBS, CNN, CNBC, and the Dr. Phil Show and quoted in numerous publications including The Boston Globe, Barron’s, The New York Times, Money Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He founded the blog www.scamicide.com, where he provides the latest information about scams and identity theft. Weisman is a weekly commentator on scams and identity theft on WGGB-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts and the nationally syndicated radio and television Big Biz Show, is a frequent contributor to New England Cable News (NECN) and hosts the Boston area radio show A Touch of Grey, syndicated to 50+ stations nationwide. Aside from his scam and identity theft work, Weisman is a lawyer and member of the Massachusetts Bar and Federal Bar. He has been a faculty member at Bentley University since 1998, and currently serves as a senior lecturer of law, taxation and financial planning. Weisman has authored eight books, including The Truth About Avoiding Scams (2008) and 50 Ways to Protect Your Identity and Your Credit (2005).