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Identity theft is the growing national epidemic.
There are literally hundreds of ways you can loose your
all important credit ratings through identity theft,
as it happens with a hundreds of thousands of Americans
every year. There are more numbers of identity theft
cases reported than there are robberies filed.
Preventing identity theft
is a simple matter of playing it safe. Identity theft
protection relies on the old adverb better safe than
sorry. Preventing identity
theft is the key to identity theft
protection. Here are certain guidelines for
preventing identity theft
and the 3 identity theft protection laws:
Identity theft protection Law # 1:
1. Protect your Social Security number and never
say it aloud in a public place.
2. Never give out your SSN, credit or debit card
number or other personal information over the phone, by
mail, or on the Internet.
3. Never carry any card in your wallet that
contains the Social Security number (SSN), unless
required.
4. Always, take credit card receipts with you.
Never toss them in a public trash container.
5. If the state of your residence uses the SSN as
the driver's license number, it is strongly recommended
that you contact your Department of Motor Vehicles and
request a different number.
6. Never permit your SSN or driver's license
number credit card number to be written onto your
checks.
7. Do not have your SSN or driver's license
number printed on your checks.
8. Ask your financial institutions to add extra
identity theft protection to your account.
9. Shield your hand when using a bank ATM
machine.
10. Always use a gel pen for issuing checks.
11. Never have new checks mailed to you.
12. Never leave envelopes containing your checks
anywhere, when you pay bills.
13. When creating passwords and PINs, do not use
any characters that relate to personnel information.
14. Never record anything in your wallet.
Memorize all your passwords.
15. Carry minimum number of credit cards, debit
cards and avoid carrying your birth certificate, Social
Security card or passport in your wallet except when
needed.
Identity theft protection Law # 2:
16. Be proactive and shield all your data in a
safe place. Maintain a list and photocopies of all your
credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and
investments and telephone numbers of the customer
services and fraud departments, in a locking cabinet or
safe along with all your personal information and
canceled checks.
17. Use credit cards instead of debit cards to
shop online and automate as much bill-paying as possible
from your checking account.
18. It is important that you install a locked
mailbox at your residence for enhanced identity theft
protection.
Identity theft protection Law # 3:
19. Review all your financial data as often as
possible. Federal law entitles you the right to one free
credit report each year from the three credit bureaus:
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion; use it. If you are a
victim of identity theft, your credit report will
indicate that.
20. Look at your Social Security Personal Wages
and Benefits, Approximate Statement each year to check
for deception.
21. Review credit card, bank and phone
statements, including cellular phone bills every month.
22. Maintain services of Identity Theft
Protection and Recovery Company. Better safe than sorry.
23. Identity theft protection includes protecting
your PC from hackers. Load some sort of blocking
software on your home systems for preventing hackers to
obtain personal confidential and financial data from
your hard drive.
24. Update your anti-virus product, everyday.
25. Always protect your files through passwords
that contain sensitive personal data.
26. If doing online transactions for shopping,
only trust on companies that provide transaction
security protection.
27. Never just delete files that contain
personnel information, make sure to remove this data by
using a strong "wipe” utility program.
28. Never respond to spam email messages.
With the emergence of new technologies, new markets and
new jobs; thieves have found a new commodity to steal.
Your identity is worth a lot of credit. Victims of
identity theft have found it the hard way.
Identity theft protection is the only means to be
safe from the pain and anguish of having loans
accredited to your name.
Preventing identity theft requires a
proactive approach. Better safe than sorry.
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