Protecting your identity: Indiana banks working to combat fraud.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy
• Position: Financial Services

TOO BUSY TO SHRED that credit-card bill? Don't have a clue what's in your credit report? Then hold on to your hat, you might be getting a call about those overdue payments on your Hummer--that you don't own--or your bank account that's overdrawn. Identity theft has reached epidemic proportions, doubling each year, with 3,660 Hoosier victims added to the Federal Trade Commission's clearinghouse database in 2003, 215,000 nationally.

Enterprising criminals, from teens to prisoners, are using a variety of schemes and scares to collect your personal information, Shanghai your identity and clean out your bank accounts or establish new credit under your good name. Although if reported early your financial losses will normally be covered by your bank, it can take years and thousands of dollars to clean up the mess that's caused by these crooks. Prevention is decidedly the best strategy.

"The biggest thing for consumers is to make sure to guard all your information and review your credit bureau report on a regular basis," preferably every six months, says Alan Boggs, senior vice president retail banking, Old National Bank, Evansville. "Watch out for deals that sound too good to be true where you have to give your Social Security number," like you've won a prize and they need to collect information before you can get it. Don't fall for the telephone ruse saying that your Citibank credit card payment is overdue and they need your Social Security number to clear it up, he says. Call the bank if you have any doubts.

In an unusual Indiana phone scam, indictments were made against several people in northern Indiana in September, including three inmates in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, for scamming recent widows into revealing Social Security numbers and credit-card information which was used to open fraudulent accounts.

Boggs gives the example of a good friend who was denied a mortgage on a house because of a bad credit rating--caused by identity theft. Turns out someone in the employment office where he worked sold personal employee reformation to teed an addiction problem. "He spent almost $5,000 getting his records straight with the credit bureaus."

As a result of the growing problem, stand-alone insurance policies and riders on homeowner's policies are being offered. They vary in price and coverage, so check around. Old National otters a policy, says Boggs, that doesn't cover losses, but covers the cost of attorney's fee, the main...