All Points Mobile Shredding Blog

Back to School & Identity Theft

Keeping Yourself & Your Family Safe

Back-to-school is an exciting time for students of all ages and parents–it’s also a time that ID thieves are on high alert to steal your personal information. When you think about all the different ways your information is required, the many activities, classes, clubs, financial institutions (colleges & universities), it’s important to be informed and diligent to protect your child’s and your own identity. Take a look at some of the top opportunities for ID theft during back-to-school:

After School & Extra Curricular Activities

Whether hosted by the school or another organization, after school activities require sign up forms and registration, which means you’re providing yours and your child’s personal information. Your child’s full name, address, social security number and your own information like driver’s license number, etc. may be required. To safeguard your ID and your child’s, always ask that your information not be shared with outside sources and that only the data that is necessary is posted anywhere-game schedules, practices, etc.

Back-to-school shopping: Online & In Person

Shopping for school supplies, dorm room necessities, clothes, shoes and other important items is a lot of fun–but it’s also an opportunity to ID thieves to obtain your credit and debit card information as well as your name, address and other personal data. Whether you’re shopping online or in person, always be careful when entering passcodes, pins and logging in. If you can pay with a credit card, rather than a debit card, it is usually more secure and easier to dispute fraudulent charges.

Providing Enrollment Forms

Enrollment forms ask for all kinds of personal data including names, birthdates, social security numbers, health info and a bunch of other information that can put your ID at risk. Don’t be afraid to ask where and how these forms are stored and always be on the lookout for paper forms that come in the mail.

Filling Out & Submitting FAFSA forms

FAFSA forms require a ton of personal information including tax records from both parents and the student, in addition to all the other usual data like social security numbers, birthdates, addresses and more. The FAFSA site is typically very secure but there are reports of phishing emails that attempt to mock FAFSA and dupe folks into providing their confidential information. Be aware that FAFSA requires you to create your own pin and to go through their security protocols before accessing your own account. It’s best not to respond to or click a link in emails that appear to be from them, instead log into your account to access any correspondence or updates.

As you get ready to send your children back-to-school, be sure to follow these tips and stay ahead of ID thieves.

All Points Mobile Shredding is a family owned and operated company in Stuart, Florida. We provide shredding and destruction to help protect you, your family and your business from ID theft and data breaches. Give us a call today or fill out the form on this page to find out more.

Dawn Connelly

Dawn is the vice president of All Points Mobile Shredding. All Points Mobile Shredding is a family-owned and operated on-site document destruction company that has been serving the Treasure Coast, Palm Beaches, and surrounding areas since 1994.

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