Identity theft will spoil your day, your week, your life. People will pose as you to get one thing, access to your money and credit, in the process ruining your life for a long time.
Lock your mailbox.
If you do not have a locking mailbox, consider replacing it with a locking model if possible. Then keep it locked. A lot of housing complexes use a community site where the boxes are grouped together. These boxes always have locks but are not totally secure. Try not to leave your mail in the box any longer than necessary.
Don’t give financial details over the phone.
We have all gotten the calls from a friendly telemarketer claiming to represent a very desirable charitable foundation. All they need is for you to divulge your credit card information for you and the bogus scam artist to feel really good about yourself. Of course, the warm fuzzy feeling soon disappears when you discover your credit line maxed out and ruined.
Have a private phone number.
You will benefit from a unlisted phone number. This will normally limit your phone calls to people you know and want to talk to. It is difficult to get through life without giving out your phone number to other people but some caution in this area will yield dividends. Also a caller ID function will help screen those calls you really don’t want to take. Listing your number with the National Do Not Call database will stop a lot of those annoying telemarket calls.
Store your PINs in a safe place.
Those pesky PINS for your ATM and credit cards are very difficult to remember. Don’t give in to the temptation of keeping them on a card in your purse or wallet with your credit cards. Store them in a safe place apart from your cards. This can be difficult to manage as you may need to access the account on the spur of the moment.
Photocopy both sides of your wallet’s contents.
Make sure that you have a photocopy of all contents of your wallet. If your wallet is stolen, you can easily report it to the proper authorities.
Make sure you report the theft to the proper companies, (e.g. Social Security, credit card company etc.) as soon as possible to prevent the thieves from using your personals.
Have a good paper shredder and use it regularly.
Be sure that you have access to a paper shredder. Shred all those documents that have any information that you would not want to fall into the hands of a thief. This includes those pre-approved credit offers you get in the mail almost daily.
Be Smart Online.
Be sure that you are using a secure server. A secure server is identified by the https intead of the standard http. Use a good firewall and virus programs and keep them up to date. This will help block spyware and virus programs that may steal your personal information.
A vigilant approach to safeguarding the use of your personal information will prevent a lot of problems. Identity thieves are constantly on the lookout for the person who is careless or uninformed about the consequences of being casual in safeguarding their credit and financial data.
0 comments:
Post a Comment