One of the most common crimes today is that of identity theft. It is easy for anyone to find personal information on you if you are not careful. You can never be too careful when it comes to protecting your identity. Besides, you don’t want to spend all that time and money correcting the problem when you could have made a few small changes in your everyday life to prevent identity theft.

• Don’t write your social security on any applications unless you are completely sure you want whatever it is you are signing up for. Often your social security number is an option. If it is an option, don’t write it in. You never know what the end user will do with that information; they may throw it away without shredding it if you decide not to go with whatever products/services they are offering.
• Never leave your credit/debit card information on any online accounts. It’s better to re-enter in the information every time you purchase something rather than leave it in the company’s database. Computer hackers can retrieve that information and leave you a victim of identity theft!
• Use a paper shredder for all documents that you will not need. For example, always shred junk mail with your name and address on it; especially credit card/loan offers. If anyone got a hold of that information, they could easily piece the information together and use it against you.
• When buying products/services with your debit or credit card, always make sure that the receipt you sign does not have your full debit or credit card number on it. Many stores leave that number including the expiration date on the slips. Any employee can go through the receipts and get that information and buy things over the internet or phone. This is crucial. It is not so common anymore, but once in a while you might come across a place that has one of those machines that leave this information on it.
• Mail your bills from your work or take it to a post office box. Anyone can steal checks from your mailbox if they see that there are letters in it.
• Check your credit reports for FREE every 4 months. There are 3 credit bureaus you are allowed one free report from each a year—that makes 3 different reports that you can check each year. Take advantage of this to make sure you are not already a victim of identity theft.
• Be aware of your surroundings when entering in pin numbers for debit or ATM cards. Make sure you are not being watched as you make such transactions.
• Identification – require identification when using your debit/credit cards. This can make a big difference by writing “Check ID” on the back of the card where you would normally sign it.
• Always destroy any digital data. If you are selling/trading/destroying your computer be sure to rip all important information off of it before leaving it in someone else’s hands.
• Check all statements including checking accounts and credit cards. Make sure that all purchases are accurate and were made by you.
• Handling your card – Be careful when handing your card over—you never know when that person down the line will take their camera phone and zoom in on your credit card and snap a picture. Since credit cards and debit cards display the account number and expiration date right on the front it makes it that much easier for someone to take a quick picture of it without your knowledge.
• Use credit cards when purchasing online rather than debit cards. Your credit card company will usually refund you the money that is taken if you do become a victim of identity theft; however, this feature is not offered on debit cards yet.

Make yourself less noticeable by taking the above precautions. Remember, you can never be too careful with your own identity—so do all that you can to keep it!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2006 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Credit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.