Timely tips on preventing identity theft were offered recently by Gary Brown of the Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection at a Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce meeting, held monthly at Crystal Bay Restaurant in Peekskill.

He told the usual crowd of 100-plus business people that the “Number one complaint” from citizens concerns unlicensed home improvement contractors. There are more than 7000 licensed contractors in the County, and of almost 600 complaints filed by customers, some 100 were against unlicensed contractors.

“Our goal,” said Brown, “is to drive the unlicensed contractors to become licensed.” Trade groups of licensed contractors exert “the greatest pressure” because their members are indirectly vicitimized by the illegal firms who underbid them on jobs.

The County official noted that gas prices, like the thermometer, are highest in summer, lowest in winter. The oil companies rang in 2008 with $3.35 average prices and, according to the County’s rolling gas survey of its 339 stations at www.westchestergov.com, it now hovers at about $4.31, which is down about 15 cents from mid-July. Throughout the County, said Brown, there’s a swing of 70 cents in gas prices.

He pointed out that the only government intervention into price gouging that is allowable by law requires a natural state of emergency or a disruption in the market. He also spoke about “zone pricing,” where the oil companies jack up prices in selected locations where they believe the market will bear it. Zone pricing is prevalent in Bedford, Katonah, Croton, Somers, Rye and Port Chester.

On identity theft, Mr. Brown said it can take up to two years to investigate and offered tips on how to avoid being scammed. “You can’t eliminate the risk,” he allowed, “but you can reduce it.” There’s not only the obvious financial disaster that can befall victims, but also, as he put it, “the psychic damage.”

One popular technique for identity thieves is the “dumpster dive,” where garbage is trolled for personal documents such as credit card receipts and bank statements. One surefire antidote to this invasion is to shred sensitive papers, using the County’s mobile shredder or other equipment. In cyberspace, he cautioned against surfing the internet on unsecured wireless routers, which easily can be hacked into by someone in a car sittiing in front of your home.
Another simple trick to avoid being a victim is not using your home mailbox for outgoing mail. An easy way to instantly detect if a Web site is secure, he said, is if its designation is not simply http://www, but https://.

When online criminals go “phishing,” it means they are “password harvesting,” so the advice is to not click any links on e-mail from people you don’t know. The same goes for e-mail that may look legitimate, from banks or credit card companies, but are in fact bogus, sent by imposters to steal your identity.

A variation is “vishing,” or “voice phishing,” where the caller cleverly gets unsuspecting persons to give out social security or credit card information. The most logical way to foil those efforts is to ask for the number and say you’ll call back.

Free credit reports promotions also can be too good to be true, cautioned Brown, so don’t be too quick to sign on without thoroughly checking them out and reading the fine print. He said everyone is entitled to one free credit report a year and referred us to annualcreditreport.com.
He said a surprising number of people don’t bother to check their credit card statements line for line, and may be overlooking fraudulent charges they didn’t make. Charges can be disputed, but only within 60 days of receiving the bill.

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