How You Can Prevent Identity Theft
How easy is it to be a victim of identity theft? Your critical information can be removed from the trash. When you dine at a restaurant, the waiter you just tipped can write down your credit card numbers. Personal information can be stolen online because you typed it into a form you thought was safe.
Here are some tips that will increase the chances that your identity and your credit will not be compromised.
1. Watch that PIN number. Be careful when entering your PIN number at a store, ATM machine or even a work or public computer. Someone could be watching your key strokes and steal that critical information.
2. Buy a shredder. When tossing out old credit card statements, bills, banks statements or just about any personal document, throw it in a shredding machine when disposing them.
3. Destroy old computers and recordable CDs and DVDs. Identity theft can even occur with computers you dispose of, trade or sell. Don't just delete the old data, use a product designed to completely destroy the hard drive and its data. Recordable CDs and DVDs should be shattered or broken before throwing them out.
4. Keep track of your checking statements. If you don't receive one, it may have been stolen from your mailbox and you'll need to alert your bank. Also, you can check your statements to see if all of the charges were made by you.
5. Mail your bills. When you leave bills to be mailed out in your mailbox, you're taking a big chance. A thief can steal your mail and your personal data including bank name and routing number and your signature from a check. Visit your local post office and mail your bills there or in a mailbox.
6. Keep your social security card at home. Don't keep your card in your wallet or purse. If a thief should get hold of your social security number, your identity can be stolen. Do not provide your social security number to any telephone solicitor or in response to an e-mail either.
7. Buyer beware. Do not conduct any business online with a company you don't know and can trust. Too many times, consumers have been robbed of their critical personal data when dealing with scam businesses or those with unsecure websites.
