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Identity Theft - Help Avoiding it
Identity theft isn’t unavoidable.
We have covered ID theft elsewhere, but here are a few more things you can do in order to avoid being a victim of this expensive and tedious crime
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Identity theft can be avoided with a few simple steps
The topic of identity theft remains a hot one, as more and more news reports of security breaches at financial institutions come in the morning paper. Identity theft occurs when someone you do not know uses your personal identification, such as a Social Security number, to pose as you in order to obtain a credit card loan or a bank loan. They then spend the money as they wish, knowing that the bills will ultimately revert to you. It often takes a year or longer to discover this problem, and in the meantime, the thief can run up tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt in your name. Your credit report is tarnished, the lenders want you to repay bills you may not even know about, and it can take years to straighten the mess out to the satisfaction of all parties.
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There are many things that can be done to help avoid this crime, and we have covered many of them elsewhere. Here are a few more:
- Buy a shredder and shred all unnecessary financial documents. Shred all of those credit card offers you get in the mail and don’t want. Thieves can and will sort through your garbage, and all they have to do to get the card is sign your name. Shred them, along with any other documents you no longer need.
- Avoid using simple passwords when banking or conducting any financial transactions online. Avoid the common trick of using your pet’s name, the name of your favorite sports team, or the names of your kids. Computer hackers can use “brute force” attacks that run through every word in the dictionary and passwords like that are easily broken. The safest passwords are long ones, or passwords that contain a combination of numbers and letters. Numbers that look like letters are good, use a zero instead of the letter “O”, for instance.
- Do not provide your Social Security number, credit card number, or any other financial information to someone who calls you on the telephone. Your bank will not call asking for this information; they already have it. If you are in doubt as to whom you are speaking, simply end the call and call the bank or whomever they say they are yourself. Be suspicious, and be safe.
- When ordering bank checks, have as little personal information as possible printed on them. There is no reason to print your phone number, Social Security number or driver’s license number on your check. If you write a check at a store and they legitimately request that information, you can provide it. Otherwise, no one else needs it. Leave it off.
- Don’t carry your Social Security card or any seldom-used credit cards in your wallet. You don’t use them, so don’t carry them. The only result that can come from carrying them is a bad one.
Be careful, and be cautious. These are the keys to avoiding identity theft.
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