Tips to Avoid Identity ID Theft

2. Do not keep Passwords & User ID's in Your Computer.   Hackers and very sophisticated Spyware can lift these important items right from your own computer.  Don't keep them inside folders, listed in email folders, and clear your temporary files daily through your tools section.

3. Monitor your credit report.   Your Credit Report contains your Social Security Number.  In addition, including employers, past and present.  It may also list other accounts and important Data.  Plus your overall Score.  When applying for a loan, anywhere, request that your Social Security Number be completely obliterated.  Then Demand the original credit report be shredded in your presence.  Any Lender only needs to retain your name and credit score to make a decision.  Note: Yes, if the Lender insists on 'retaining' your Social security Number on the loan application papers for any reason, get a loan somewhere else!

4. Shred all old bank and credit statements and "junk mail" credit card offers before trashing them.   Shredders are not expensive.  You should be getting into the habit of shredding everything, before putting into the garbage.  The garbage, Your Garbage is a great find for a potential ID Thief.

5. Remove your name from the marketing lists.  The three main credit reporting bureaus will retain your name and information unless you request your name be taken off.  This is why you receive so much junk mail offering additional loans and pre-approved credit card offers.  Get Your Name off of those lists.  Those lists can and sometimes do possess Data you do not want others to see.

6. Add your name to the name-deletion lists of the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and Telephone Preference Service used by banks and other marketers.

7. Do not carry extra credit cards or other principal documents except when needed.   Extra credit cards often get misplaced or lost.  You do not want the wrong person to find them.  If you also are in the habit of keeping your Social Security Number inside your wallet, Take it out and start learning the number by rote memory.  You do not want your S.S.N. lost or stolen with your wallet.   Only You can eliminate the 'extra junk' from your wallet or purse.  It pays to do so on a regular basis.

8. Copy the contents of your wallet or purse using only a photocopy machine.  Copy both sides of your license and all of your credit cards.  You then have hard copy of all the important account numbers, expiration dates and necessary phone numbers if your wallet or purse is stolen.  But no not put this information on your computer.  A Safety deposit box  or small home safe is best.

9. Do not Mail bill payments and checks from home!    Yes, this does take a little getting used to, but your incoming and outgoing mail can be stolen from your mailbox.  If it is stolen, Crooks can use any documentation they get a hold of and use chemicals to wash the documents clean.  It is just a matter of filling in the blanks with your information.  Crooks can then send in the documents with fake signatures, receiving loans, credit cards, merchandize, even cars, using your name and charging it all to you.  Try getting into the habit of Taking your mail to the Post Office or a Post Office Drop box.  And you can buy a new mail box that is harder to others to open and is more secure.  Nothing is perfect, but a new box can make it more bothersome than something else.

10. Do not print your Social Security number on your checks.    In fact, do not print anything other than your name and address.  You are just providing a trail for a thief to backtrack and gain valuable information.  Sometimes these crooks work at the very store you are shopping from.

11. Order your Social Security Earnings and Benefits statement once a year and check for any thing peculiar or fraudulent.    Oh yes, someone else might be collecting on your Social Security Earnings without you even knowing about it!  Using parts or all of your personal ID information, they can have the checks or benefits sent to them, without your knowledge.

12. Examine all of the charges on your credit card statements before paying them.    Check and Re-check all Bank Statements as well.  Make sure all Checks are accounted for.    Make sure it was You who bought everything on the list and not someone else.

13. Cancel unused credit card accounts.    If you are not using a particular card, Shred it.  Get ride of it.  It is a whole lot of trouble and anguish just waiting to happen.

14. Never give your credit card number, personal information, or your Social Security Number over the phone unless you have initiated the call and trust that business or Government Agency.    When purchasing through your computer Online, a Secured Shopping Cart is a must!  If the shopping cart is not secured, do not type in any information and back out of the transaction.  Never type in your Social Security Number for any transaction.  No Online business, retail or wholesale, Bank, Lending institution, or Government Agency needs your Social Security Number for any Internet Online transaction whatsoever.  If a Government Agency does indeed request your Social Security Number, do your business in person, not Online.

15. You can subscribe to a Credit Report Monitoring Services.   They will notify you whenever someone applies for credit in your name.  One service can be good, but there will always remain the chance they could miss something.  Two Monitoring Services greatly raise the odds in your favor.

16.  Request Your Bank or Credit Card service immediately contact you and inform you of any odd or unusual purchases.   Your buying habits are a matter of record and they can indeed be of help to the financial institutions you subscribe with in stopping ID Thieves.  Bizarre purchases are a dead giveaway, a sore thumb if you will.  Monitor and monitor everything carefully.  You, your bank, and credit card service can then act quickly.

17.  If any Company, Banks, Credit Card Services, Phone Company, or a business You like to shop with uses a Foreign Entity (overseas) to collect Buying Information, Card Information, ID Information, Billing Information, or any other Private Information or Documentation, You may seriously want to consider Dropping or Ditching that Service or Business.    It could even be your Cell Phone Service.  It is recommended You discontinue that service or using that business immediately!  You and Your ID will be a whole lot Safer.  Foreign ID Crooks have grown quite proficient in stealing personal ID's and other delicate Data from a wide variety of sources.  In particular, they love getting their hands on American Social Security Numbers, Credit Cards issued to Americans, and any American Identification information.  These Crooks know how to work the system.   They use that stolen data to purchase goods in Your name, receive money from Your Accounts, gain loans using Your Information.  Much of the time, their illegitimate gains profit terrorists groups or groups and individuals associated with terrorist entities.  Do not think there is nothing you can do about it, just drop them like a hot iron and use another service or business to meet your needs.

18.  Always beware of Email that comes to You 'Unsolicited'.  Block this type of Spam and delete from your computer.    It can contain 'Spyware' that is both harmful to you computer and can monitor or copy your keywords and other password information without your knowledge.   Often, you can 'click' properties and read the true email address of the unsolicited mail.  If suspicious in anyway, block it and delete it.

19.  Remember that 'Wireless' is not always a good thing.  Scanners & Skimmers are now lurking in your neighborhood looking to 'Scan' wireless communication.   They can steal all you information 'wirelessly' without you knowing anything about it.   It is the same issues at gas pumps and other businesses that allow the customer to 'scan' their own cards and punch in 'pin numbers'.  Even when you punch in your Pin Codes, you are vulnerable to scanners and tone catching spy-scanners.  If you are wireless or thinking of going wireless, you will have to learn and use 'Encryption' to protect your information.  The biggest mistake is not believing 'You' will not be a Victim, but it will happen only to some other guy.  These crooks can be 2 to 3 blocks away, scanning for a wireless business or personal computer that does not use encryption.  Believe it, it can happen to you.  Just like a regular telephone, a Land-Line and old fashion 'personal signature' still offers the best ID protection.

20.  If you think things are bad now, just wait.    What are the next juicy targets for ID Fraud Crooks?   You guessed it.  Your new Cell Phone and Your new Handheld Devices like the ones called 'BlackBerrys' and Text Phones.   The fraudsters love 'information lists', and these devices are loaded with 'personal information lists', and tons of detailed information concerning personal and often business information.  Often these lists not only contain passwords, login reminders, but email banks as well.  In other words, lists of additional and new 'victims' for all types of new frauds.

21.  Then there is that favorite 'Blog Website' "You" hang out on, or 'the favorite Blog' where 'Your Kids" spend hours without you knowing it.    On-Line Crooks are now tapping into these Blog-sites, like MySpace.com and others, to gain the users trust, and any other useable information that will give them an avenue to valuable private information.   Think:  Knowing someone is wireless is Information that can be sold to a Scanner.  Maybe You are extra careful, but know that your kids can and often do inadvertently or innocently allow Outsiders to gain Your Private Information by hanging out on Blogs.  Remember, these fraudsters have the software and the knowledge to infiltrate.   They are also very clever and slick in their methods and approaches.  Even if a Online Thief should fail to get what he wants from Your Kid on a Blog-site, he still may have success with one of your Kid's 'Trusted' Blogger-Friends later on.    All that is needed is a little 'beachhead' or innocent sounding information or clues to where you live or work.

22.  In the Past, personal privacy was easily guarded, but not today.   Privacy Issues within the Technology Explosion has swiftly become a crisis facing everyone.   Even famous people are now experiencing the private invasion of their personal information, let alone the everyday issues facing normal people.   Personal Information, especially private information must now be guarded as carefully as you would your own hidden treasure.  Letting that information out may be the most dangerous and regrettable thing to happen to your life.   Take steps to guard yourself, your family, and be very careful about who you trust with that information.