Identity theft has always been a problem but never to the extent that it is today. Thanks to the information age, and the ability to look up personal information on just about anyone, it's easier than ever for identity thieves to find out who you are and use your identity for any number of purposes.
The key to thwarting thieves is to understand how they work and employ specific tactics to make them look for easier targets. But before we deal with specific tactics it's important to know that many of the things in our everyday lives are open doors to identity thieves. Some of those things include:
- credit card receipts
- our checkbooks
- mail
- records kept by doctors and businesses we deal with
- e-mail accounts
- online banking accounts
- social networking websites
Even with the seven examples listed above, there are still more avenues for stealing your identity than you probably know. It goes without saying that protecting yourself requires you to use some common sense in withholding as much personal information as you can. In fact, that is the key to preventing yourself from becoming a victim. Never give out more information about yourself than is absolutely necessary.
Protect Your Social Security Number
Most people throw around their social security number as though it is a random piece of information with no worthwhile value. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Your social security number is the one piece of identification that links you to your bank accounts, your federal and state tax records, your driver's license, your credit reports, and so on. While there are absolutely some organizations that need your social security number for legitimate reasons, the vast majority of businesses and organizations we give our numbers to have no need for them.
You need to protect your social security number at all costs, period. If you're applying for a credit card or bank loan you'll need to supply it in order for your credit record to be checked. But when you visit a doctor's office for the first time, they have no need for your Social Security number. There's also no need to give it out when you're purchasing items at your local office supply store, home improvement chain, or department store. The same goes for your address.
Businesses that ask for such information constantly promise us that they protect it and will not allow it to be used maliciously. But even in the best companies there are individuals who would just as soon steal from you as put in an honest day's work. Such unscrupulous employees who have access to our personal information are just looking for opportunities to use it against you. Don't let it happen. Protect your social security number and the rest of your vital information.
Be Careful with Credit Cards
Credit cards are perhaps the easiest door for identity thieves to enter. Nowadays it's not enough to simply make sure you don't leave your credit cards lying around; now you have to be sure who you hand them to for the purposes of conducting transactions on your behalf. As an example, did you know that a waiter down at your local restaurant can hide a portable card reader in their pocket and scan your credit card when he “takes it to the back" to process your payment? It can be a hassle, but your credit card is a lot safer if you pay for your meal at the register or with cash.
By the same token, paying with credit cards online can be dangerous. By law credit card companies are required to take fraudulent charges off our accounts, but that still won't prevent an identity thief from getting the rest of the information about you. A better way to shop online is to use a service like PayPal or Google Checkout. Another option is to purchase a rechargeable Visa or MasterCard at your local department store and use it for all your online transactions.
The last thing to understand about credit cards comes by way of the receipts you receive at the gas station or grocery store. There's a lot of numbers on these receipts that you and I may not understand, but they are a pot of gold to identity thieves. Always take your receipts with you and shred them when you get home. Never leave receipts behind, whether you throw them in the trash or leave them hanging in the machine.
Watch your Mail
Most people have no idea how vulnerable they are to identity thieves simply through their postal mail. This is true for both incoming and outgoing pieces. Where incoming mail is concerned, how often do we receive unsolicited credit card offers and other pieces of mail that contain both our legal names and addresses? Any identity thief can pull a discarded piece of mail out of the recycling bin and use the information it contains to steal our identities. You should never throw away any mail if it contains your name and any other information about you. Instead, shred it using a crosscut shredder.
In terms of outgoing mail, leaving it in your home mailbox for the postman is another dangerous practice. An individual can snatch it from your box in a matter of seconds without anyone knowing what has happened. If any of your outgoing mail contains personal checks, you're already in trouble. But even without personal checks your outgoing mail is rife with personal information that can easily be harvested. Always take your mail directly to the post office or a dedicated postal box in a public location.
Be Cautious Online
Next to credit cards, online activity is the next big area of vulnerability. Like it or not, our computers and tablets are an open door to identity thieves if we do not protect them. To that end there are a couple of things you need to know, the first one being that you should avoid public networks as much as possible. It may be convenient to log into the network at your local coffee shop, but everyone else on that network can see your computer. A skilled hacker can get inside your browser cache folder and in no time have your user names and passwords, cookies, and other vital information.
If you must use public networks always clear your cache folder before logging on. You should also use a firewall with Microsoft operating systems, or an encrypted home folder if you're using Mac OS, Linux, or BSD. Although firewalls and encryption aren't foolproof, they require too much hacking time to make it worth the effort - especially since there are so many other careless people on open networks.
Where social network is concerned NEVER publish personal information including addresses, phone numbers, places of employment, and so on. Far too many people put their entire lives on social networking sites, making themselves easy pickings for identity thieves. For example, if I log onto your page and find your full name, where you were born, your place of employment, and your marital status, I now have enough information that I could steal your identity in a matter of days. Why give thieves such an opportunity?
There are certainly other things that can be done to avoid identity theft. We have barely scratched the surface in this article because there are innumerable ways in which identity thieves can get to us. As a general rule however, the point to all of this is to suggest that we refrain from being careless with our personal information, our credit cards, our bank accounts, and so on. The more careful you are, the less likely you are to be a victim.