Ways To Prevent Identity Theft

Identity theft affects over nine million people each year, resulting in financial difficulties, emotional distress and can have devastating consequences. Prevention is the first line of defense. Although not all theft can be prevented, there are ways to prevent identity theft. The first step is understanding how criminals acquire your information and then taking steps to prevent them from getting your personal information.

Consider how little someone needs to wreak havoc on your financial life. With your name, address, birth date and social security number, an impersonator can cause a lot of damage. Throw in a credit card number or two and the identity thief has everything they need to profit at your expense. Criminals have a variety of low tech and high tech methods for getting the information they need.

One way identity thieves get information is by taking it. This is easily done by picking the trash. Most people throw away bank statements, credit card bills and other financial documents without giving it a second thought. This is a gold mine of information for the identity thief. Always shred sensitive papers before throwing them away to avoid this problem.

Another way to preventing identity theft is to secure the mailbox. Often, people put outgoing mail into the box and raise the flag to notify the mail carrier that there is mail that needs to be taken. Unfortunately, this also tells the criminal element that there is something that can be stolen in the mailbox.

Consider this; just getting your credit card bills with checks inside gives the thief not only your credit card account information, but your bank information as well. With this information, the thief could contact the companies and change the address, so future statements aren't delivered to your home. Take the mail to the mailbox at the post office on your way to work to prevent this opportunity for theft.

Remember to secure your private information when you are out in public, too. Pay attention at restaurants, in stores or at ATMs. One simple method to get your information is to look over your shoulder, while you enter your pin. Later in the parking lot, a purse snatching is all that is needed and the thief has the card and pin numbers.

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