SON SON
Identify theft has been a federal offense since 1998, but are we getting any better at dealing with it? Actually, the number of identity theft victims per years nearly 2 million from 2003 to 2007 (10.1 million to 8.4 million), according to a javelin strategy & research survey, as reported by the privacy rights, clearing house and the mean time required to undo the damage in each instance was down from 40 hours in 2006 to 25 in 2007.
Most of the financial losses in an identity theft are suffered by credit issuers and banks, as victims are rarely held responsible for fraudulent debts incurred in their name, but victims often bear the responsibility of contracting their banks and credit issuers after an identity theft has occurred.
Even these declining numbers are fairly high, however and learning that your credit card has been used by a stranger can chill your blood, as in nearly every endeavor, preventions it the best medicine, to thwart identity thieves, maintain these practice.
Safeguard your social security number
This is perhaps the single most important bit of information about you, don’t carry your card with you and if possible don’t even tell anyone the number. Shred everything that has your name, address and other personal information, use a across cut shredder, not strip cut shredder, because cross cutting creates fragments that are much harder to piece back together.
Don’t provide personal information to people who contact you over the phone, through the email, or by email, ask them how you can get in touch with them, so you can investigate, you might start with a simple internet search for complaints or check with the better business bureau (welcome.bbb.org).
Keep sensitive documents in a secure place, birth certificate, social security card, tax return, insurance policies and the like should go in fireproof safe or at least a locked drawer at home, or in safety deposit box in a vault.
Never give anyone your password for anything, no tech support or customer service rep should ever ask you’re what your password is, this is a dead giveaway that you’re dealing with a potential identity thief or at best an incompetent support tech.
While we’re on the subject of passwords, don’t use a weak or obvious password like your birth date or dog’s name, strong password incorporate capital and lowercase letters, numbers and if possible no alpha numeric characters.
Protect your pc or notebook, please run firewall, antispyware, and antivirus software, don’t fall prey to phishing, don’t enter information on strange web site, don’t even enter information on familiar web site that have changed recently, call the company and ask it they’ve redesigned their site, always check a site’s encryption before entering personal information look for https:// in the address bar, along with an icon indicating that VeriSign or another independent party has certified the site as secure.