In recent years, the topic of identity theft has been splashed all over the headlines, with lurid stories of cyber criminals stealing the personal identity information of millions of people worldwide. Identity thief is essentially the stealing of someone’s personal identifying information (identity) and using that stolen information to commit fraudulent acts and related crimes.
Perhaps the biggest problem with identity theft is that a person can never be sure of when it will occur. But when it happens, it is likely to be a nightmare event of untold proportions that causes immense disruption and harm in one’s life.
Despite the uncertainty of how or when identity theft might occur, here are seven relatively simple steps that anyone can take to minimize the risk of being the next victim.
1. Do not carry all of your identifying information with you. Carrying many credit and debit cards and other identifying information such as passport and social security card is inadvisable and dangerous as these may be easily lost or stolen. Only carry what you need, and leave the rest at home in a safe secure place.
2. Do not throw away your receipts, statements, or any other documents that have your personal information on it, as many unscrupulous people “dumpster dive” to find this very kind of discarded information. Buy a shredder, preferably one that cross shreds, and shred any documents you wish to dispose of so that criminals cannot retrieve any information when it is thrown in the trash.
3. If possible use a secure Postal Service mailbox which is locked by a key. If this is not possible, you may wish to rent a P.O. Box at your local post office. Otherwise, should you have a regular mailbox in a public area, try to retrieve your mail as soon as you can every day so it will not fall into the wrong hands.
4. Create PIN’s and passwords with a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters, as these are much more difficult for identity thieves to crack. There are free online password generators that do a great job of creating difficult passwords for you to use.
5. Keep all of your PINs, passwords, credit accounts and bank information in a safe place accessible only by you. One good method is to photocopy all of your personal information and store in a locked file cabinet or safe. Another way is to store your information in a password keeper application (such as Roboform or Turbo Password) or in a password-secured application or database.
6. Check your bank and credit card statements regularly. Identity thieves often get away with their crimes because many people do not check or reconcile their statements very often. Most accounts nowadays have online access in which you can easily log on and check the balances any time you wish, be it daily, weekly, or once a month. It is prudent to check your accounts regularly, as any sign that something is wrong with the account can be quickly spotted and dealt with.
7. Should you suspect that someone is unlawfully using your identity to commit fraud or other crimes, it is imperative that you contact the fraud departments of all three consumer reporting agencies immediately and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit report. The main purpose of the fraud alert is to warn creditors to contact you whenever there are changes to any of your credit or bank accounts, or when a new account is opened using your name.
While no measure of precaution is 100% fool-proof, taking a few extra steps to secure your personal information will go a long way in keeping you from becoming the next victim of identity theft.