How Do I Avoid Identity Theft? - Part I
The USPS reported that last year 9.9 million Americans were victims of identify theft costing them roughly $5 billion. With the potential for loss, this is sadly an issue you cannot afford to overlook. Here are practical steps and tips you can take to avoid having your identity stolen.
Deposit mail and bills in secure U.S. Postal Service collection boxes. The days are gone when you can mail letters and bill payments from your home mail box. Thieves can and will steal your outgoing mail which contains personal checks and account information.
Pick up your mail promptly. Do not leave your mail outside overnight or while away on trips. Arrange to have a neighbor pick it up or put a hold on mail at the post office.
Buy a shredder. Make sure you shred credit card applications and any documents that contain personal or financial information. If you throw it in your garbage, any thief can steal your personal information.
Initiate the phone call to order products and services. Never give your credit card or personal information to someone who calls you. There is no way to confirm they are legitimate. If you ask the caller to leave their name and phone number most times they will decline because they do not want to be identified!
Do not send personal or financial information by e-mail. E-mail is not secure and can be intercepted by thieves. You should either fax or give sensitive information over the phone.
Never respond to an email solicitation. Go to the website you know and trust to make your online purchases and payments. Make sure there is a lock on your browser indicating they are using an encrypted payment form. Click on the lock to view their security certificate and make sure that it is still valid. Here is a very simple rule to detect fraud. Thieves will send emails with the logos of PayPal, banks, etc, pretending to be a financial institution. They will give some lame excuse such as there has been a problem with your account. Please click on the link below to correct problem. When you put your cursor over their link, you will notice that even though it says their name, the actual link goes to some other site. This is also called phishing.
Limit the information you give on social networks. Remember how a college student mined social information off the internet to gain access to Sara Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account? Thieves can go through social networks and pick up information on you and your family. That makes it easier to pretend to be you! A prime example is the birthdate that Facebook requires. Be sure to click on your profile, then the info tab, then edit the basic information to display only the month and day you were born or do not display your birthdate. Your birthdate is an important piece of information for identity thieves so don’t give it out!
Follow these safe procedures and you will greatly reduce the possibility of becoming a victim of identity theft. More to come in Part II…
Tags: identity theft, Security