How To Combat Identity Theft

Identity theft continues to be a grwing problem . Every day, thousands of new victims find themselves having to defend and restore their credit-standing.

What can you do to defend against this ever-growing problem? Here are some simple things you can do:

• Be mindful of your garbage. Believe it or not, identity thieves pour thriough the garbage of unwitting people, obtaining names, addresses and personal information such as social security numbers and birthdays. Armed with this information, theives can obtain credit cards in your name.
• Shred all documents and envelopes with your name and address on them. Personal shredders are reasonably-priced and may be purchased at local office supply stores or online.
• Speaking about online purchases, ALWAYS purchase from a secure website or use paypal. Secure websites have a certification certificate contained on the site, and this certification can and should be verified when purchasing from a vendor you have not used in the past.
• When using a credit card to make an in-person purchase, especuially when paying for restaurant checks, keep your card in view. Rather than handing your crad to your server, bring the card up to the cashier.
• Debit cards, unlike credit cards, are like cash. Once your account is accessed, the funds are ( permanently) removed from your bank account.
• Keep purchase receipts for all purchases made by credit and debit cards and match the charges on your monthly statement.
• Periodically obtain a credit report and make sure there are no unknown accounts in your name.
• Governmental agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, and banks and other financial institutions will never make initial contact by email. So, should you be contacted by email containing questions of a personal nature, especially asking for a social security number, be suspect and do not provide that information.