Dave Ramsey on ID Theft Among College Students

by Doug Pollack

Prominent talk show host Dave Ramsey discussed the prevalence of identity theft among college students in an interview earlier today on the CBS News Early Show.

He stated that:

"Identity thieves zero in on college students much of the time. They're deemed particularly vulnerable to ID theft, and people aged 18-29 make up the group most commonly victimized by it."

Strangely enough, young people might seem to have the least to lose from identity theft, which may be why they are specifically targeted, because that they don't feel vulnerable, they can be very cavalier with their personal information, and because they're consumed by school activities. Most college students not only haven't ever checked their credit reports, most of them probably don't even know what a credit report is (I know mine don't).

One of his listeners wrote to him saying:

"My third day at college, I applied for several credit cards on campus. Five years later, I found out that all my personal information was posted on a Web site. I had cars bought in my name and credit accounts across the country. A college student who ran one of the credit card booths was responsible for posting my information. Even though I now have a new Social Security number, I constantly have to monitor my credit reports. I have had to explain all of this to employers who run background checks on me. Those free T-shirts wound up costing me $150,000!"

Obviously, you're never too young to be careful with your personal information.