When it comes to cars if you've seen one you've seen a million, but every now and then you may come across one personalized with a wealth of information.
Bumper stickers, decals, and magnets broadcasting where the driver went to school, their sorority or fraternity, where they work, what political party they support, and in many cases their name or even their child's name.
Individually each item isn't much of a threat but Sgt. Paul Huffstutler with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department warns once put together with a cars vin number and license plate your credit could be at risk.
Huffstutler says with a few clicks on the internet and your car could suddenly can be used as collateral for a criminal to take out a loan in your name.
"If you were to check with these companies that you believe have opened a fraudulent account in your name, the information as far as your child's name could would be verified by what you have displayed on your vehicle."
And all it takes is for a smart criminal armed with a cell phone to capture your information and you'd never know it.
To prevent credit fraud, you may be inclined to borrow an idea from Joan Miree.
"I'm the one who has the vin number covered up for the past five years. The policeman thought that was a good idea when he saw it, and I've continued to do it."
But Huffstutler adds that there's an even darker, scarier threat: child predators.
"If they see mom or dad driving up and they have the names of the children on the back of the vehicle, not only do they know the name of the children but they also know what the child looks like to refer to them by name, and they have a way in to build confidence with the children to entice them into a vehicle."
Katie Annegam never really thought about the dangers of celebrating a child's accomplishments on the back of a car until after her son was born. Now she says she'd never put his safety in jeapordy for the sake of a cute bumper sticker.
"You know when I first saw it, I thought that's so cute! And the more I thought about it, there's just so many people... The first thing I thought when I came to the playground was to survey the area because predators look for things like that... for any type of opening to find an easier target."
James Drake says he doesn't have any personal bumper stickers on the back of his car, but says now he's less inclined to ever put one on.
"You wouldn't deserve to be a parent, if you're putting your child intentionally at risk, so I feel it's definitely a responsibility that I need to find out more how to protect my son and certainly other parents should do the same."
