According to the U.S. Department of Education, students nationwide are at a high risk for identity theft crimes because they are vulnerable to having their personal information such as Social Security numbers stolen, but at AU, the EagleBuck$ system is not linked to any personal identity numbers and provides little incentive for identity thieves.
"These are troubles that can lead to thousands of dollars of unauthorized debt, wrecked credit ratings and even possibly lost job opportunities," said Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for the Education Department.
Identity theft occurs when personal information is used without permission to commit fraud or other crimes. According to the Federal Trade Commission, complaints about identity theft topped the list of consumer fraud complaints last year, accounting for 37 percent of the 686,683 complaints filed with the agency.
Bradshaw cited pre-approved credit card offers, dormitory burglaries and relative inexperience in financial management skills as potential dangers that leave students exposed to identity theft.
Amanda Myre, a junior in the School of International Service, said students can take simple steps to reduce their risk of identity theft.
"I know [identity theft] can happen if you give the wrong people your personal information," she said. "So you have to shred personal documents before you throw them in the trash, and don't write your PIN on the back of your card. Just simple stuff."
According to the FTC's Web site, identity thieves use a variety of methods to steal personal information. Common methods include going through the trash looking for documents with personal information, diverting bills to another location by completing a "change of address" form and the "old-fashioned" way - stealing wallets and personal electronic devices such as laptops that may contain financial statements and tax information.
The Education Department provides other advice to help students lower their risk. These include shredding pre-approved credit applications before throwing them away, ordering and reviewing credit reports from major credit reporting agencies and checking bank statements for unusual activity.
Students should also use a firewall program on their computers, especially if they leave their computers connected to the Internet for prolonged periods, according to the Education Department.
One of the cards AU students use most frequently is their student ID card, which allows them to pay for items using EagleBuck$.
Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs, said as long as students use common sense about protecting their identity numbers, they are generally not at risk of identity theft when they use their AU ID or EagleBuck$.
"The AU identity number is not attached to anything that would generally be used for identity theft," Weber said. "For example, it is not attached to the Social Security number. The AU identity and credit card information are also not linked as they are stored in separate software." Weber said students' personal information is stored only in the university's servers.
"A merchant only has a card reader. ... With the card reader, they can only store information such as the student's name and AU identity number; they cannot take out information," she said.
Shops participating in the EagleBuck$ program that The Eagle spoke to confirmed this.
"We just get the student's last name and the amount of money there is on the card," said Katie Babiak, salon assistant and cashier at TIGI Boutique on campus.
A general manager at Chef Geoff's on New Mexico Avenue said, "We swipe the [AU] card as we would a credit card. We can't retrieve any other information from that machine; it's virtually impossible"
