Questions about identity safety in relation to Suncards are almost always lurking in students' minds.
"My dad and I changed my ASU ID number before I even came here," said Jen DiTullio, a journalism and mass communications sophomore. "We just didn't think it was safe to have my Social Security number on the card."
Most students aren't aware that when they receive their Suncards they can request a different number for their student ID number.
A student's ID number can be changed by going to the registrar's recording office in the Student Services building with a picture ID and a Social Security card.
The ID number will then be replaced with a "993" number.
Suncard office manager Dale Whitenhafer estimated that 40 percent of students currently use this alternative number.
"We do get a lot of stolen cards," he said.
Whitenhafer added that changing the number could be beneficial, but it's not entirely necessary.
He added that it would be just as easy to acquire someone's Social Security number another way and the fact that it's displayed on a Suncard might not make too much of a difference.
Students with missing cards can also call the Suncard office's 24-hour line. The call is timed and dated to place a hold on the account and prevent any future transactions.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission processed 117,210 reports of identity theft.
For 16 percent of the victims, it took two years to figure out their identity had been stolen and 80 percent said they had no clue how it even happened.
Phoenix is currently the sixth-highest ranked city to have identity theft occur.
Reach the reporter at megan.rudebeck@asu.edu.
