Preventing Identity Theft
Steps for preventing Identity Theft:
- Make sure the information reported by your creditors is accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized.
- Your credit report contains information on where you work and live, the credit accounts that have been opened in your name, how you pay your bills and whether you've been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy.
- Again, check your credit report on a regular basis to catch inaccuracies and fraud before they wreak havoc on your personal finances. Check elsewhere on this site for details about removing fraudulent and inaccurate information from your credit report.
Before you reveal any personally identifying information, find out how it will be used and whether it will be shared with others. Ask if you have a choice about the use of your information: can you choose to have it kept confidential?
Pay attention to your billing cycles
Follow up with creditors if your bills don't arrive on time. A missing credit card bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your credit card account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks.
Guard your mail from theft. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office. Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after it has been delivered. If you're planning to be away from home and can't pick up your mail, call the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 to request a vacation hold. The Postal Service will hold your mail at your local post office until you can pick it up.
Put passwords on your credit card, bank and phone accounts.
- Avoid using easily available information like your mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.
- Minimize your identification information and the number of cards you carry to what you'll actually need.
- Do not give out personal information on the phone unless you have initiated the contact or know who you're dealing with.
- Keep items with personal information in a safe place. To thwart an identity thief who may pick through your trash or recycling bins to capture your personal information, tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, bank checks and statements that you are discarding, expired charge cards and credit offers you get in the mail.
- Be cautious about where you leave personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help or are having service work done in your home.
- Find out who has access to your personal information at work and verify that the records are kept in a secure location.
- Give your SSN only when absolutely necessary. Ask to use other types of identifiers when possible.
Don't carry your SSN card; leave it in a secure place at home.
Can you completely prevent identity theft from occurring?
Probably not, especially if someone is determined to commit the crime. But you can minimize your risk by managing you personal information wisely, cautiously and with heightened diligence and sensitivity.
Review your Credit Report Today! Privacy advocates advise consumers to protect themselves from identity theft and related crimes, by checking their credit reports twice a year, shredding personal documents before throwing them away and cleansing wallets of old receipts and printed social security numbers.
|
