Published March 2005

Prevent ID theft
by protecting information

By Lionel Contreras
Guest Columnist

One of the best things about operating a small business is that you tend to get to know your repeat customers and your employees pretty well. And it is only when a new customer asks to open credit or a new employee comes on board with the intent to defraud that the prospect of identity theft rears its head.

But identity theft is becoming a big problem, not only for large chain stores but for the smaller ones as well. And of all the small businesses I do know, I don’t know one that hasn’t gotten a bad check at some point, though usually a small amount that can be absorbed without too much pain. But should the amounts become large or the number of bad checks rise, it could lead to major problems for a small business’ bottom line.

In the fight against identity theft, it is important that you take the proper steps to protect your company’s information as well as your own.

Most of these steps are pretty simple and include:

• Using receipts that display only the last four digits of a customer’s credit card when completing a transaction.
• Being alert to your credit-scanning machines — “pick up” means grab the card; it’s hot.
• Locking away customers’ credit applications in a safe location.
• Having the computers that you log credit and customer information into free of network or Internet connections, and making sure that only you or your top managers have access to them.

Remember, identity theft can affect more then just your business and the victim in question. For every fraudulent transaction, there are banks and credit-card issuers who feel the negative impact as well.

If you believe that names and Social Security numbers have been stolen from you or your business, you should contact local law enforcement immediately. The local division of the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service also can be of service in telling you how to contact your customers so as not to interfere with the criminal investigation.

You should designate an e-mail address and person for customers to contact in order to contain the situation and help direct these individuals to Web sites that have the information they need to protect themselves from any further abuse.

The good news is, you may never need to use this information. As a small-business owner, you likely have tight control over your company’s information and are not as likely a target for identity thieves.

But, just in case, you might want to keep this article handy, because when it comes to identity theft, swift action can help stop the damage before it starts.

Lionel Contreras is an information systems technician with The Herald.

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