Every 17 hours a Naperville resident will report identity theft.
That statistic has prompted the Naperville Police Department to make identity theft their focus of this month’s Safer Naper.
“Anybody now can become a victim, especially last year with the Equifax data breach where there was a 143 million social security numbers were compromised,” explained Crime Prevention Specialist with the NPD, Julie Smith. “Everybody now has the potential to become a victim so you have to be diligent about protecting your identity.”
To protect yourself from identity theft remember not to respond to unsolicited requests for personal information over the phone, mail, or online. Enable security features on mobile devices, and create complex passwords that would be difficult for identity thieves to guess.
The police department will be releasing information on social media and on their website about more ways to protect yourself from identify theft and what to do if you are a victim.
And on February 12 and 21 the police department will host presentations about fraud awareness that the public is encouraged to attend.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
