Institutional policies: About half of all college students attend schools that use the students’ Social Security number as a student ID number.

Credit card offers: Roughly half of all college students receive at least one credit card offer in the mail each week; many receive them daily. Most college students say they just throw them away without shredding them. They’re also subjected to a barrage of credit card offers on campus, accompanied by offers of free T-shirts and gift cards.

Lifestyle: There are several elements of college life that make students especially vulnerable to identity theft, including; long holiday breaks with mail sitting uncollected; chaotic dorm life; living among strangers; inordinate sense of trust.

Experts recommend that parents talk to their kids about identity theft in the same way they talk to them about drug and alcohol usage, sexuality and safety practices like locking doors.

Each student should have a locking file cabinet and a shredder. They should be warned to avoid credit card offers, use online services to frequently monitor their accounts and review their credit reports regularly.

Whether you’re a college student yourself, or are just someone who’s concerned about a college student, visit LifeLock today to learn more about their identity theft protection services.

Five most common ways that college students leave themselves open to identity theft:

1. Living on campus in dorms or with roommates.
2. Ordering clothes, books, movies, lava lamps, ping pong balls, or any other merchandise over the Internet.
3. Throwing away credit card offers without shredding them into a million pieces.
4. Being careless with student loan pin numbers and documentation.
5. Using cell phones to talk about things that might be useful for an identity thief to hear.
6. As long as you do any of those things — and we’re willing to bet that you do — you’re raising your chances of being a victim of identity theft.

How to Prevent College Students Identity Theft

If you’re going away to school for the first time or returning for another year, it’s extremely important to take certain precautions to keep your identity and money safe.
Here are a few tips to help you prevent identify theft.

Set a password on your computer, lock your computer when away from it.

This is easy to do, and it will deflect most common computer users. Although, if your computer is stolen by a decent computer hacker, they’ll be able to get past the screen saver password so don’t store passords to your online bank accounts or other sensitive information on your computer. Make sure that you never leave your computer unattended in public such as the library, student union, or cafeteria. When you leave your laptop in your dorm room you could even stash it out of plain site.

Avoid revealing too much personal detail on social networking sites.

Every piece of information that identity thieves can gather about you is another clue to stealing your identity.  Seemingly harmless pieces of information individually (birthday, address, phone number, etc) can add up over time and eventually make you a victim of identity theft.

Not only is this good for your security, but can also protect your future career. Remember, everything you post on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace could end up being seen by the wrong people at the wrong time. Use social networking wisely, and don’t post pictures that might compromise your reputation or give off the wrong idea about you.

Don’t let anyone borrow your credit or debit cards.

This might not sound like something you’d ever think about doing, but you’ll be running across dozens of “mooches” at school. They might ask you, “Hey man, can I just borrow your card to order a pizza, I’ll give you the cash”, but don’t trust them unless you are really close to them. Don’t give out your credit card number or debit card number to anyone, write it anywhere, or store it anywhere on your computer.

Don’t open a tab on your credit card and forget it.

I’ve never done this, but I’ve come close! You never know who might be working behind the bar and if they’ll abuse your card if you leave it there overnight. Make sure your designated driver reminds everyone to close out their tabs. If you’re walking home or taking public transportation, write a note on your hand to remind yourself.

Call right away if credit card stolen or lost.

Do not wait until the next morning if you think you lost or had your credit card stolen. Credit card companies have 24 hour customer service, and it will be much easier on yourself and the credit card company if you report it right away. Even if you end up finding it a couple of days later, it’s better safe than sorry, and you’ll receive a new card usually within a week.

You aren’t personally responsible for an unauthorized credit or debit transaction, but you can make a much stronger case that it wasn’t you if you report it as soon as you think it’s been lost or stolen.

Don’t keep cash in your dorm room, use debit card instead

Identity theives take your identity so they can steal money.  If you just leave your money lying around, they can just skip the identity part and go right after your cash. It’s not that you don’t trust your roommate (or maybe you don’t), but when you aren’t there, your roommate could be bringing in all kinds of people to the room that you’ve never met before. It’s always a good idea to keep your cash on you or better yet, use a debit card for most transactions.

Stop identity theft with identity theft protection services

Identity theft protection services (such as LifeLock) that aim to stop identity theft from happening in the first place by setting fraud alerts on your credit file at all 3 credit bureaus, meaning a lender must take the extra step of calling you to verify your identity before processing a new application from you. Learn how LifeLock identity theft protection services can stop,protect and keep your identity safe and secure.

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Most students in today’s world use their computers to access online banking, pay bills, order merchandise, and communicate in just about every other aspect of their lives, too. If personal and account information is stored on the hard drive, the thief has instant access to every information that makes it possible for them to assume the student’s identity. Some have found to have this information leaked via the internet, such as the following incident:

The personal records of over 1,000 current and former students of Southwest Mississippi Community College were made available on the internet due to a computer server crash. This was not an intentional breach. The names, social security numbers, addresses, genders, races and grade point averages were involved. Those who have been affected will be contacted by the college to get assistance with credit monitoring.

The amount of money and time lost by these schools that is used to inform affected individuals is in the thousands. Those who are affected also have to invest money and time into trying to undo any harm done by identity thieves.

College students are at high risk for identity theft. Since they don’t often check their own credit, they are the perfect target for these criminals.