How do you prevent Identity Theft?
Friday, March 12th, 2010 at
11:34 pm
What are things you do in everyday life that prevent identity theft?
I have my name on all my cards without my middle initial, I do not sign the back. It says see photo ID. My legal signature ALWAYS has my middle initial on it. So if there is ever a dispute, I win! I ALWAYS take my mail containing checks to the post office. The red flag you pull up for the postman is a red flag for thieves too. They can take your check and alter it. Also, keep a gel pen in your checkbook, the gel can’t be lifted from your checks the way ballpoint ink can.
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Visit gives great tips in preventing identity theft.
Monitor your credit file.
Learn how to do it for free!
First of all, you need to sign the back of your credit cards with your name. Seriously.
If you lose the card, someone else can sign your name on the back in their own handwriting. And then when they use it and sign a receipt, the signature on the receipt matches the signature on the card. The cashier never knows the difference. Not good for you.
Ever get unsolicited offers to apply for credit cards in the mail? Wouldn’t those be dangerous in the hands of an identity theif? Call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT to stop getting them.
Shred all mailings of credit applications. People can get them, and put them in the mail with a change of address. Never carry your ssn around with you.
Aside from that, I give you an +A.
Your identity can be stolen in the following ways:
1. A waiter in the restaurant to who has your credit card, disappears and scans the card through a small, hand-held device called a skimmer. The important account information recorded on the card’s black magnetic strip like your name and the account number, is transferred to the device and is used to create new cards.
2. A rogue employee working for the institution where you had submitted your application for credit, an apartment, insurance, or employment, sells your details to identity thieves or uses it to open accounts.
3. Hackers hack into the online databases that contain your personal financial data.
4. Thieves masquerading as legitimate lenders or crooked employees of genuine lenders get credit reports from the bureaus and use the details to open new accounts.