Ask About This Articleby Andrew Obremski
Identity theft statistics are shocking, to say the least.
And it's not going to get better any time soon. But there is
no need for you to become a statistic. Here is what you can
do to avoid identity theft.
1. If your mail box doesn't have a lock yet, put one on.
If you had any official letters missing recently from your
mail box, the chances are somebody has stolen them to find
out things about you, and possibly assume your identity. If
it didn't happen to you yet, count yourself lucky and put
the lock on the mail box anyway.
2. Consider renting a PO Box at your local post office. Use
it as a postal address for most or all mail. This will be
particularly useful when you go away for a few days, or if
there is no one home for most of the day.
3. Invest in a good paper shredder, preferably a cross-cut
type.
You should never just tear up important documents. But what
may not be so obvious is that the pre-filled offers you get
from banks, credit card companies, insurance companies and
the like, also contain sensitive details about you that
would be of interest to identity thieves. Shred all of these
before throwing them out.
4. Never give any financial details over the phone, unless
you initiated the call.
The most common scenario: Someone calls you pretending to be
from a local charity. You agree to donate a small amount to
a "good cause". Not suspecting anything, you give them the
credit card details over the phone and the rest, as they
say, is history. Next time you get your credit card
statement, it will be full of unauthorized transactions.
Do you give them credit card numbers over the phone? Never!
Either ask them to send you some leaflets in the mail, or
get their phone number so you can verify they are who they
say they are, before donating any money.
Another scenario: Someone calls you "from a local bank". All
they want to do is verify your financial details. Again, I
don't care what they tell you, don't do it. Ask them to
leave their name and contact number so you can call them
back. Next, get your local bank's phone number from a phone
book and give the bank a call (don't use the number they
gave you, as the thieves maybe just waiting on the other
end). Ask people at the bank if someone was trying to
contact you. You may find out they know nothing about it!
The fact is, your bank already has all the details they need
about you, in the vast majority of cases.
5. A fake "charity worker" knocking on your door? He or she
may even have an authentic-looking id. What do you do?
Well, if you give them some small change, then this is all
you've lost. But if you donate the money using your credit
card, you just became a victim of identity fraud.
Of course, many times a real charity worker will be knocking
on your door. What do you do if you really want to help?
Ask them to leave a leaflet with you, so you may read it
when the time is a bit more convenient. Or ask them for a
phone number and the charity name so you can call them. If
it turns out to be genuine, you can always send them the
money later.
6. Consider changing your phone number to a silent number.
This will considerably minimise the number of calls you get
from both tele marketers and identity thieves. There are
other advantages to having a silent number as well.
Generally a silent number tends to increase your privacy.
7. Never store you PIN numbers or passwords near you plastic
cards or account details.
Yes, I know. You want to keep your PIN number close to your
plastic card, just in case you forget it. You may even
disguise it as another number. Guess what. If a thief gets
hold of your wallet, they will try any numbers they can find
in it, to steal the money from your plastic card account.
It's true, after a few unsuccessful attempts the account is
usually locked. But even that would inconvenience you, to
say the least. And why risk losing your hard-earned money?
8. Don't use credit cards in restaurants or other places
where your credit card can be taken away from your sight for
even a minute. Before you know it, your card could be
scanned and used by thieves to buy all sorts of goods,
particularly via telephone shopping, mail order, and online
shopping.
9. And finally, there is a huge and growing subject of
Internet identity theft. You can read our article on
Internet identity theft at
http://www.credit-report-a-z.com/internet-identity-theft.html
We obviously didn't cover everything here. But hopefully
this article opened your eyes to some easy, common-sense,
ways to prevent someone from stealing your identity and/or
your money.
Will it guarantee that you never fall a victim? No, but it
will go a long way towards making a life of a thief very
difficult. Usually, if you make life difficult for them they
will move on to an easier target.
There is one more thing you should seriously consider.
Checking your credit report regularly. It's not uncommon for
an identity thief to apply for a loan, or a credit card,
under your name. Of course, they have no intention of ever
paying it back. All other issues aside, this will affect
your credit rating and borrowing capacity for years, unless
you clean it up quickly.
There are inexpensive services available that will monitor
your credit files all year round and notify you the minute
anything in your credit file changes. Or you may prefer to
check your credit report yourself every few months.
Oh, and those shocking statistics I mentioned earlier?
According to recent studies, up to 7,000,000 people became a
victim of identity theft in the past 12 months. That's more
than 19,000 people a day. Don't become a statistic! Do
something about it today.
Andrew Obremski is the owner of http://www.credit-report-a-z.com,
a web site devoted to information about credit reports,
identity theft, debt, and other personal finance topics.
Tags: phone number, statistic, few days, credit card numbers, postal address, charity, thieves, thief, local bank, mail box, insurance companies, credit card details, leaflets, financial details, paper shredder, local post office, unauthorized transactions, cross cut
