How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
Identity theft is at an all time high according to many reports and will only increase as time goes on. The #1 question is: How to protect yourself from identity theft? We will talk about some of the things you can do to protect your ID from scammers and criminals, as well as the best service to use for keeping your identity safe.
Top 10 Identity Theft Protection Tips*
I personally know of a friend and a family member that have been a victim of identity theft. Once it happens it can be a nightmare to get your good name restored and get all of the charges reversed. Criminals have gotten more adept at getting your personal information and the rise of internet commerce and credit transactions has left many people open to fraud. How can you increase your chance that ID theft will not happen to you? Here is a list of some tips that you can use in your everyday life to reduce the risk of having your identity stolen:
- Keep an eye on your credit report and have it checked on a regular basis. There are services that will monitor your social security number and credit report and notify of you of changes or suspicious transactions. The cost of using an identity protection service
is nothing compared to how expensive it will be to restore your identity.
- Do not ever throw away important receipts that have financial information or account numbers on them (even partial numbers). Use a shredder to get rid of any documents that have sensitive information that could be used to gain personal information. Criminals have been known to dig through trash to find personal information with account numbers and more this way.
- Only carry credit cards that are absolutely necessary in your wallet or purse. Carrying one general card is probably the best option as the more that you carry the harder it will be to recover and get charges back if it is stolen.
- Keep your Social Security card and other important documents secured in a locked safe or safety deposit box at your local bank. Having your SS# is one the easiest ways for a criminal to take over your financial information.
- Be careful of what you mail from your home mailbox if it is not locked. Checks and other sensitive information that includes your name and account should be taken to the post office and mailed directly when possible.
- Cancel or cut up credit cards that you have not used in a long time. If they are sitting around with open balances you may not pay as much attention to them.
- When asked for your Social Security number for identification purposes, see if they will accept an alternative. Never write your SS# on a document that is not secured or that will be passed around if it can be helped. Identity protection
- Make sure you use 'secure' encrypted transmissions for all online e-commerce transactions. The easiest way to see if a payment that you send will be secure is to look up at the address bar in your web browser and see that there is an 'https' before the URL. The 's' on the end signifies that it is secure and there also should be a small padlock in the bottom portion of your browser. If you are unsure about the security of the site you are using call the company directly.
- Never provide account or financial information after clicking on an email that you have received. Most reputable banks, credit card companies, and online stores will never request account information from you in this manner. This is what is known as 'phishing' and it is one of the newest ways that online criminals can gain access to your personal accounts.
- Never use the same password for online accounts including banks and credit card sites. Always use complex passwords that consists of random numbers, letters, and special characters where appropriate.
Best Way to Prevent Identity Theft?
While the ten tips for protecting identity theft above may reduce your risk it can still happen to anybody. The only way to be sure that your identity is safe is to enroll in a protection service that offers a guarantee. Why? Criminals are coming up with new ways to scam you everyday and you want to stay one step ahead of them. The piece of mind that comes with having your identity monitored is worth it. We know of one identity theft protection service that offers a $1 million dollar service guarantee and has many proven ways to protect your ID.
Want to know more?....read below.
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Identity Theft Protection from the #1 ID Protection Service:
See the #1 Rated Identity Theft Protection Service
* These tips are not a guarantee that identity theft will not happen to you.
We offer these common sense strategies to reduce your overall risk. You should consider using a service like the one mentioned above to monitor your credit and identity at all times.