How to Protect Your College Student from Identity Theft

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) August 30, 2011

As millions of teenagers start their educational journeys in college this fall, thousands risk identity theft. During their early adult years, they are building one of the most important financial aspects of their life--their credit scores. But with their naive approach to finances and their inattentiveness to protecting their most personal information, many college students fall victim to identity theft because of their lack of knowledge and follow-through in identity theft protection. Identity Theft Labs, one of the most trusted evaluation and review websites for identity theft protection companies, helps college students reduce their risk of identity theft with a few simple tips for parents:

Educate your child on phishing scams

With schools offering student emails, many students will become a victim of phishing scams. This is where a bogus email is sent to the student, which looks official and appears to come from a financial institution. This email will ask for personal information, such as "verifying your account," in which sends your student to a false website for them to enter in this data. As soon as this information is obtained by the third party, their personal data is at risk, as are their financial accounts. Remind your student never to send personal information through the internet, and to contact their financial company through their customer service number if being requested to send this data.

Warn of credit applications

Many college students are bombarded with credit card applications in the mail and on campus. Each time they apply, they give out their Social Security numbers, income, and personal data. Remind your student not to apply for credit cards, and to bring home any credit card offers that they receive so you can look them over and help them make a good choice for their first credit card. Or add them as an additional cardholder on one of your own credit cards to assist them in starting to build their credit without putting them at risk for identity theft. Also, send them to college with a shredder to shred any credit card applications they receive on campus that they don't plan on applying for. Identity thieves can use these tossed applications to create a credit card under a student's name and start racking up fraudulent purchases and ruining their new credit scores.

Enroll in a monitoring service

Enrolling your student in a credit monitoring service can help you and your student keep track of what is going on with their credit score and financial happenings. Each time they come home (for school break--or laundry!), sit down with them and view their credit reports through the service. Talking about finances with your child will not only help them understand the importance of building their financial future at a young age, but can give you the opportunity to talk to them about saving money, spending wisely, and donating to their local community. Websites like Identity Theft Labs can help you make a decision regarding the best credit monitoring service for your student by offering LifeLock reviews, Identity Guard reviews, TrustedID reviews, and other identity theft protection services that are available online.

Teaching your child financial responsibility is one thing, but letting them know the ways to protect themselves from identity theft is another. Talk with your child about the dangers of identity theft on their financial future, and sit down together to visit Identity Theft Labs to discuss credit report monitoring and identity theft protection techniques.

About Identity Theft Labs

Identity Theft Labs mission and devotion is to increase awareness among consumers on a national level for protecting themselves from the devastating effects of identity theft. Identity theft has been ranked as the single, fastest growing crime in the United States today. Identity Theft Labs is considered to be the most trusted evaluation and review website for identity theft protection companies on the market today. You can discover high quality, credible, and unbiased reviews by going to the following website: http://www.IdentityTheftLabs.com. Please contact Identity Theft Labs at 1-800-691-9204 for questions, assistance, basic inquiries, and media requests.

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Related Building Simple Websites Press Releases

Carpe Diem Now Utilizing uBoosts Online Motivation Tools to Recognize Student Achievement

Bellevue, WA (PRWEB) November 07, 2011

uBoost, the nations premiere student motivation program, announced its partnership with Carpe Diem, a charter secondary school in Yuma Arizona. Carpe Diem completed a pilot program during the Spring of 2011 and has expanded the use of uBoost to 5 locations, including its virtual school program, to boost course progression and completion rates.

Students will receive recognition for their scores as they progress through each course in the form of redeemable points, achievement badges, and status. Students may level up by earning points and badges which are viewable via online leaderboards and user profiles.

uBoost provides a collection of motivational levers designed to increase the student activities our clients find most valuable, says John Bower, CEO of uBoost. Our underlying principle of automating frequent and consistent feedback support Carpe Diems efforts to foster meaningful relationships between students and their teachers; set high expectations; and make the academic experience student-centric. By distilling seemingly insurmountable goals like course completion and content mastery into achievable tasks and recognizing students as they progress, learners feel supported and develop the confidence necessary for academic success. Whether its competing with peers on leaderboards; achieving short and long term achievement milestones; helping others through charitable giving; or earning merchandise and gift cards, uBoost delivers relevant feedback that appeals to each type of learner.

Rick Ogston, Founder and CEO of Carpe Diem says, Carpe Diems approach to education leverages technology, students interests, and skills to make their learning experience positive, enriching and empowering. In addition to teachers providing encouragement, uBoosts automated positive feedback loops provide daily evidence to our students that they are indeed making progress and can become competent in the subject matter.

About uBoost

uBoost provides educators with an automated solution to deliver relevant recognition for positive behaviors and incremental academic achievement to keep students motivated to earn their diploma. Working with all age groups, curricula and achievement levels, uBoost partners with publishers, school districts, online schools, tutoring companies and private education companies to design and implement customized recognition and rewards programs that foster student motivation, improve classroom behavior, and encourage parent engagement.

uBoost appreciates that students are unique that they learn differently and that intrinsic motivation varies across subject areas. uBoosts platform encourages students to put forth their maximum effort by recognizing their individual academic achievements in the form of performance-based badges, coveted spots on achiever leader boards, daily email alerts, and award points redeemable for rewards including forty charitable giving opportunities and access to games only available on uBoost. Clients may also offer merchandise and gift cards in their customized rewards catalog ranging in value from $ .01 to $ 200.00.

New recognition tools, rewards, and contests are added regularly to keep up with students' changing interests and to ensure relevancy throughout the school year.

For more information about uBoost, call 866-921-4480810 or visit:

http://www.uBoost.com

http://www.youtube.com/uBoost100

http://www.twitter.com/uBoost

http://www.slideshare.net/uBoost

About Carpe Diem

The mission of Carpe Diem is to Educate, Empower and Equip their students for life. Their focus remains razor sharp: Carpe Diem is satisfied with nothing less than providing each student with an individually crafted, state-of-the-art, educational experience from enrollment to graduation, and beyond. Carpe Diem understands the unique opportunity that digital learning provides, and has now embraced the online virtual world. Offering on-campus and online options provides students the power to choose the best option for them. Students who require the flexibility that online education affords can now study quality, college preparatory courses at home, at their own pace, while focusing on sports, theater, the arts, or whatever it is that moves them. Whether on-campus or online, throughout their course of study, Carpe Diem students will have mastered all the content and learned skills that will position them to succeed in college, or in the world economy. Students who earn their diploma will be able to confidently refer to a transcript that reflects the excellent reputation and NCA accreditation of Carpe Diem Collegiate High School.

About Education2020, Inc.

Education2020 is a leading provider of core and elective instruction in a virtual school setting for students in grades 6-12, creating innovative, rigorous, standards-aligned courseware and online virtual instruction programs to help students recover and accrue credits for graduation and prepare for state, end-of-course, and standardized exams. Education2020s web-based model, teacher-led video delivery, and innovative instructional approach offer engaging and individualized virtual online instruction solutions to public and private schools for use in traditional classrooms, blended school, and online programs. e2020, Inc., has implementations in 39 states with over 800 schools districts and 2500 + schools served. Founded in 1998, last year education2020, Inc., provided courses for more than 335,000 students. For more information, visit http://www.education2020.com.

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