Identity theft is on the rise each and every year. It can cause you to lose your hard-earned money as well as ruin your financial reputation. The latter will make it very difficult for you to apply for credit and loans and cause your credit score to take a nosedive.
To protect yourself from identity theft, you should always follow safe banking and financial practices. Here are six steps you can use:
1) Keep your account numbers and PIN numbers safe
When you are withdrawing cash from ATM or paying for your purchase using your ATM card, 3 months of fake bank statement you should cover your PIN numbers with your other hand.
You should not divulge your PIN to anyone over the phone. This includes officers from your banks.
Do not write down your PIN and account numbers on a piece of paper and leave it in the open. This is common sense yet many people like to do it for convenience sake.
2) Only do transactions with businesses you trust
If you are going to do a big purchase from a new company, you should do your research to make sure the company is legitimate. Many identity thieves actually set up fake companies in order to steal your personal information.
3) Shred all letters and documents that have your personal information
Your phone bills, credit card statements, bank statement, utility bills and many other bills contained your personal information. Once you are done with the payments, you should shred them immediately before throwing them into the dustbin.
If you get application forms for credit cards in the mails that are "pre-approved", shred them as well. All credit card receipts should also be shred before going into the dustbin.
Identity thieves will go through the garbage to find these statements and receipts. They will look for pre-approved forms so that they can fill them out and apply for credit using your identity.
4) Install a good firewall and anti virus protection system
Most family has at least one computer that is connected to the Internet. Thus it is a must to install a good firewall and anti virus protection system. The anti virus software should be update frequently. If you are not familiar with all these computer protection stuffs, you can consider taking a basic computer security course at your local college or community center. Alternatively, go to the local library to borrow and read books on these topics.
5) Shop carefully online
E-commerce has exploded over the last few years. More people are buying things online. For your safety, you should buy from reputable online companies such as Amazon.com. If you are dealing with a new company, make sure it has a good privacy policy and strong encryption technology. The latter is very important when you want to enter your credit card details on the order page.
There are many other things you can do to prevent identity theft but these few steps should be enough to get you started. They are simple to do and you should try to make them part of your life.