Personal identity theft tips
Personal identity theft has become big business with organized crime and small crooks making big buck by stealing your name and identity. However, there are some precautions you can take to prevent your information from falling into the hands of these evil people. Here are our favorite strategies to counter this growing menace.
1) Never give your mother's maiden name to any organization. The only entity that should have that information is the IRS.
2) Never give out personal or account information to anyone that calls you. If someone calls you, and they claim to be from your bank, do not give out any information. Instead, you should gather their information and verify with your bank.
3) If you are making any type of online purchase consider one the following options. a) use paypal for all your purchases b) buy a disposable credit card and use it instead of your regular credit card. These cards are refillable and easily controlled.
4) When shopping avoid the use of your debit card as a debit. Why? There have been some reported cases of people tampering with credit card machines to steal pin numbers. It is safer not to use your debit card with the pin, instead use it as a credit card.
5) We all love the convenience of mailing checks by mail from our home. However, recently thieves have started stealing outgoing mail out of mail boxes. Therefore, if you are mailing any type of payment, go directly to the post office and place it in the mail slot inside the post office.
6) Avoid depositing sensitive material or payment on outside mail boxes at the post office or in the street. Why? If the box is full enough is it very easy for someone to place their arm inside these boxes and steal the mail. Please use the mail slots at your post office.
7) Another recent development has been the stealing of garbage. Some thief will target a person and steal their garbage to get credit card numbers, personal information, etc. Make sure you shred any and all paperwork you dispose off.
8) Install a locked mail box. The locked mail box can provide you with additional security by preventing thieves from gaining access to your mail.
9) Sign up for electronic bill pay and paperless billing. Why? By limiting the amount of paper bills you will be limiting the amount of possible ways for thieves to steal your sensitive information.
10) Never fill out a profile with job hunting websites. These websites are a favorite target of hackers, and these profiles provide these criminals with the missing pieces they need to put together your personal profile for sale on the internet.
Finally, the most important thing that can be done to help curve this type of crime is to pass laws to end the sale of your personal information on the net. Here in the U.S.A. there are many companies that sale collected data about you; these companies will sale to anyone your birth date, phone numbers, address etc for as little as $19.99.
Why should it be legal for a company to sale your personal information? Why should anyone be able to pay $19.99 and know your entire life history? From what schools you went to, your date of birth, mother's maiden name, former addresses of work and home, etc. Who would need or want this type of information? The answer is simple: thieves, con artists, scammers and identity thieves.
We urge everyone to write to their local, state and federal government to end the practice of putting any type of personal information online, and to outlaw the practice of selling your personal information online.
