In this day and age, everybody is at risk for falling victim to the internet. People have decided that they will do anything to get what somebody else has. I’ve never been the victim in any case yet (knock on wood!), but that doesn’t mean that I’m completely protected from the things people do. The closest I’ve ever come to providing personal information about myself online is through my MySpace and Facebook page. I think a lot of people are guilty of doing this, but who’s to say that the information one provides to readers is accurate. I mean it so common for people to tell half truths and whole lies. Just because someone describes themselves as being extremely gorgeous and such, doesn’t mean that they are in actuality. The internet is known for a source for people to provide false information to others.The information I provided on those social networking sites is pretty much all fact, but I never go into details about myself in the questions they ask. My confidence in providing information online stems from the fact that I get to control whatever I decide to write. I feel confident knowing that I get to choose what to write about myself and what not to write about myself online. I also feel that just because information is being requested from me, doesn’t mean that I have to provide any answers. The only other thing that I’ve provided information online for has been my online banking. That one really bothers me a bit because you never really know the lengths someone will go to just to steal your information. The online banking site claims to be safe and secure, but is it really? I had one instance when I went to fill out a job application for a retail clothing store about two years ago. They didn’t want to hire me because of my age and the fact that I was still a high school student. I guess they wanted someone more flexible. They offered to keep my application on file just in case something opened in the future. I agreed and thanked them and left the store. Little did I know of what was to come for me! About a few months later I got a letter in the mail from the store. I had already had a crappy job and was prepared to leave the current one to go to work at this clothing store. What I discovered was far worse than what I expected. The opening of the letter started off as: “We’re sorry to inform you Ms. Williams…” Just reading that little sentence made me instantly angry. My first thought was “Why did it take them all this time to let me know that I was never going to get the job!” Oh yeah! I was enraged. Kind of a strong word I know, but I was so ready for something new and was disappointed yet again. Just as I was about to tear up the letter something else caught my eye. This line stated that: “recently stole two laptops from our store containing the store’s information and the personal information of several people who also applied for a job (this including me).” They then informed me that they had contacted the police and a investigation was underway but they had not found anything suspicious as of yet. The store also teamed together with the three major credit bureaus and offered everyone a free year of credit monitoring and told us to contact our banks to prevent any type of identity theft and fraud. At this point I was just in complete shock. This is one of those things where you assume something like that would never happen to you. I didn’t have any credit but I do have a debit card, but that was the least of my worries. My social security number was on the job application and floating around in cyberspace somewhere (probably still is but hopefully not!). No credit is perfect credit for a thief so I instantly became worried. I called my bank and filled them in on the situation. I had to go through the process of getting a new card and pin number and they also froze my account until the new card and pin came. My bank also placed fraud alert protection on my account so that whenever I go somewhere to make a purchase they have to ask for my ID and a number of other things to verify my identity. Then I had to get the credit monitoring activated which I encountered problems with at first, but I got it done. It’s been two years and I still have to take these steps to protect myself. I have to get my bank card changed every year and even going online to do my banking causes me to cringe, but I feel somewhat at ease knowing they are also going through steps to protect me as well. Like I said before, this is one of those things you think will never happen to you and I was completely unprepared. I still don’t have any credit established as of now but I still make sure to check with the credit bureaus. These types of things are no joke and that’s why I never provide any more than necessary when I go online.
