A few weeks ago in the middle of a ferocious Midwestern blizzard , our phone rang at 12:10 a.m. That’s a nerve-wracking time to get a call, especially when there’s bad weather AND you have a college-age daughter.

It was my stepdaughter on the line, but fortunately, she was not calling from a roadside ditch.

She had an emergency of a different sort—she’d had some money stolen from her purse, and she initially thought her credit card was missing as well. She wanted the phone number for the bank to cancel her card.

It turns out that although the cash was long gone, her credit card was found floating around in her purse—not in her wallet where she’d left it, but at least it was there. Things could have been much worse. She could have lost her entire purse: driver’s license, credit card, cell phone and all.

In college, you can be particularly vulnerable to identity theft, so take some extra precautions, adopt the Boy Scout  motto, and be prepared:

• Photocopy all the cards in your wallet and keep the copies in a safe place, so you can easily cancel everything if your wallet does get stolen.



• Stay in the know about how identity thieves work, because some of their techniques for getting your information might surprise you.



• Keep a close eye on your mail—make sure you’re receiving all your bills and that there are no unusual charges.

But these are just the basics—for more details, check out this information on how to protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. The Federal Trade Commission  also offers some great information—try the quiz to test your knowledge about identity theft!

If you’ve had any personal experiences—or close calls—with identity theft, share them here.