Identity Theft Protection Tips for College Students

Help protect your kids from the risk of identity theft. When your kids leave for college, you won’t be able to keep close tabs on their activities. Help them prepare for college by giving them tips they can use to protect themselves from identity theft.

Before They Go: Identity Fraud Tips Your Kids Can Use at College

When your kids leave for college, there are several identity fraud protection tips you can give them to help them stay safe. Your children will start to receive offers for student credit cards when they are away at school. Building a solid credit history while still in school is a great idea, as long as it’s done responsibly. Your kids can stay safe at college by avoiding student loan and credit card offers that arrive as spam email. In addition, they should have spyware and an anti-virus program installed on their notebook or PC before they leave for school. That way, even if they accidentally click on a link in a spam email, they can delete or quarantine potentially harmful files by running the software.

Identity Theft Protection Tips for Kids Away at College

Once your kids are away at college, they need to continue to take safety measures to avoid identity theft. Kids should only respond to student credit card offers received in the mail or that they find online, at a credit card comparison website . Social networking websites are a great way to stay in touch with friends all over the globe. However, kids need to avoid accepting requests to interlink their Facebook and MySpace pages with people they don’t know, who may be identity thieves pretending to be students. Pimping out their “spaces” with downloads may also lead to identity fraud and should be avoided. Running spyware and anti-virus software programs will help counteract situations that can leave a computer compromised.

Use Credit Monitoring to Protect Kids in College from Identity Theft

Kids in college can use credit monitoring to make sure that they stay safe from identity theft. Credit monitoring provides updates to customers including information about credit checks and new accounts. Kids who use a solid credit monitoring program will receive immediate notification about any suspicious activity on their credit report.