Posted on Sunday, 7th November 2010 by Nathan Thorpe

Protecting your identity is becoming a growing industry. It is vital that you know how thieves can obtain your sensitive personal information. This is one of the best ways for you to protect yourself and prevent identity theft from transforming your life into a horror show.

Here are six common ways that thieves can gather sensitive information and some preventive measures that can keep you from becoming a victim of identity fraud.

  • The first means of identity fraud is when someone gets information by sifting through your rubbish. Never throw away anything with account numbers, social security numbers, usernames, or passwords. Anyone can go through your rubbish and retrieve these papers. Even if you tear documents and financial statements into bits, they can be put back together if someone really wants to obtain your personal information. A paper shredder that also shreds credit cards, CDs and DVDs is a great investment. This is the only way to keep your ID numbers and other personal information safe from prying eyes.
  • The second way they can latch onto your identity is by stealing credit card information when they are swiping your credit card at a store or restaurant. This is called skimming and is hard to prevent when someone really wants to get the information and you have to give them your card for payment. It is a good idea to check the activity on your credit cards more than once a month when the statement comes.
  • The third method an ID thief can use is to dupe someone into giving out sensitive information through emails. This is called phishing, but always remember, a legitimate institution will never ask for sensitive information via email.
  • A fourth identity fraud method is pretty basic, some crooks resort to old- fashioned theft. If you get your wallet or purse stolen, it is very important to inform all credit card companies and banks. You also need to notify the authorities to let them know that your driver’s license and other personal information is missing.
  • A fifth way of stealing an identity is by actually changing someone’s address. Billing or bank statements contain a lot of good information in them. Be concerned if you’re not getting any mail for a few days.
  • Number 6 on the list occurs when thieves use false pretences to obtain personal information from various institutions. This is called “pretexting” and it is the reason institutions ask you those seemingly inane and rather silly questions before letting you access your accounts. If you are prone to writing your computer user-names, passwords and other information on pieces of paper, you had best keep them in a secure place. It is best not to engage in this practice, but if you must then you should try to use a code so that others cannot easily go online and clean out your bank accounts. Never write any PIN numbers down on the backs of your cards and do not keep PIN numbers and credit/debit cards in the same location.

There are a growing number of companies that will keep an eye on your credit scores and financial transactions. For a monthly fee, they will warn you of any strange activity that is occurring and take steps to prevent it. If you feel the consequences of identity fraud really warrant this type of interaction then it is going to be worth the cost of the fee for you to have peace of mind.

If you are diligent with your personal information and regularly monitor your financial records and credit scores then you will greatly decrease your risk of identity fraud. As with everything else in life, there are risks and rewards- you simply have to decide how much you want to risk.

Alan Trescott is the marketing manager at The Shredder Supermarket, a website providing local delivery of paper shredders and confidential shredders yet with a national presence and strong buying power which means the best prices for you.

Check out their shredder FAQs and help for more information on the best ways to manage and dispose of your confidential information. For the office, you can also check out our range of confidential shredders that are more powerful and can deal with higher volumes of material.

Similar Posts:

Share

Tags: Protect
Posted in Thieft Protection | No Comments »

Leave a Reply