Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Guaranteed to Work Tips for Protection against Identity Theft

By Paul Wilcox

There are a number of different types of identity theft such as the fraudulent use of someone elses credit card or bank account, running up bills in another persons name and working in another persons name. Victims of identity theft often responsible for repaying the money and / or owed and this is everyone should follow some guaranteed to work tips for protection against identity theft.

Firstly, we should all recognize the various forms of identity theft and how they occur in order to know how to prevent it from happening. There are many tips for protection against identity theft that we can easily follow such as checking our credit ratings regularly and keeping an eye on our bills for any unusual activity.

Never give out personal information unless it is to someone that is well known and trusted to you. Documents that contain any personal details should be shredded before being thrown away and this can include anything from bank statements to credit card offers. Social security cards and numbers are extremely important as a person can easily work in someone elses name fraudulently.

You should always memorize your social security number. Never have it written on anything or printed on a check. The same goes for a driver's license. Do not print anymore information on the checks then needed as it can easily be stolen. You may even want to consider having your information taken out of the phone book. Never give out any information from phone calls or emails that you haven't asked for until you check to see if the person contacting you is genuine. Always keep copies of you personal papers or identification at home while traveling just in case they are lost or stolen.

Other tips for protection against identity theft are to keep any valuable information in the home locked away in a safe. If you receive unsolicited emails or telephone calls requesting your personal information, do not give any information away unless you contact your bank yourself to verify that the caller is legitimate. If traveling, keep copies of your identification at home in case they are stolen.

Tips for Protection against Online Identity Theft

The tips are fairly simple for online identity theft. Antivirus spy ware that is updated frequently will protect against viruses and hacking. You should change your passwords regularly and use a combination of letters and numbers to make them a little harder for someone to try to figure out.

Never answer emails requesting account information, passwords or credit card details. Before entering bank or credit card information, verify that the website is authentic and safe to use as it could easily be a fake.

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