Young working people are not the only victims of identity theft. Senior Citizens are a growing sector of people who have had their good name stolen.



Why Seniors?





Susan Reinhard, Senior Managing Director of Public Policy for the AARP says that Older Americans are systematically victimized by unscrupulous individuals\".



According to a recent study by Javelin Research, 8.9 million Americans were ID theft victims. The FTC says that, 20 percent of that number are over the age of 50.



Why would people target seniors in particular? According to the Federal Reserve, houses run by someone 50 control more than 75% of the nation\'s private wealth.



Also, older Americans tend to have a long and established credit history, making it easy for them to obtain credit.



Another big reason is that seniors often carry around their Medicare cards. If you take a look at your card, you\'ll notice that it has your Social Security Number written right on it.



Protecting Your Identity



The first and most important tip is for seniors to not carry your Medicare card with you. Instead, take a photocopy of the front and the back and cut out the last four digits of the Social Security Number. Neither doctors nor hospitals are going to deny emergency care if the last 4 SSN digits are missing, and if you know you are going to be going to a routine visit, you can bring the original card along only on that day.



Other tips are:

• A much as possible, switch to online statements and bill paying. Then there is nothing that can be stolen from your mailbox.
  
  
• Buy a crosscut shredder and shred anything you absolutely do not need to keep that has personal information
  
  
• Check your credit report at least once a year, either by contacting each credit bureau or signing up for an Identity Theft Protection service
  
  
• The AARP strongly recommends establishing a credit freeze whereby no new credit can be established without explicitly telling the credit bureaus that you want to \"unlock\" your credit report. This can either be done by contacting each bureau individually or signing up for an Identity Theft Prevention services like TrustedID