City of Cody Identity Theft Prevention Practices
To combat the growing problem of identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued new rules that apply to all municipal utility operations. Under these rules the City of Cody is required to develop and implement identity theft prevention polices and procedures to protect sensitive customer information.
The Policy is intended to identify red flags that will (1) alert City employees when accounts are opened using false information; (2) protect against the establishment of false accounts (3) develop methods to ensure existing accounts were not opened under false information; (4) to protect sensitive information contained in existing accounts; and (5) develop measures to respond to fraudulent activity.
In April all current utility customers will be notified of the implementation of the Identity Theft Policy and beginning May 1, 2009 City staff will be required to:
- Confirm the identity of all customers establishing new utility accounts
- Confirm the identity of all customers requesting information or changing information on an existing account
- Confirm the identity of all customers closing an existing account.
The following methods will be used to verify the identity of a customer:
- Drivers License
- Government issued photo ID card
- Personal information used to establish the account (i.e. last four digits of social security numbers, tax id numbers, drivers license numbers, etc.)
The City believes the protection of customer records is of the utmost importance and keeping sensitive personal information confidential and secure is an importance part of our responsibility to our customers, therefore beginning May 1st, 2009 the City will only provide account information to the person or persons listed on the account.
If you have questions regarding the identify theft policies and procedures of the City of Cody, please feel free to contact Administrative Services Staff at 527-7511 or email codycity@cityofcody.com.
