Money & Career: Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft

There are several things you can do to help protect yourself from identity theft, however most of the things you can do require some effort on your part. If you are determined to watch your credit then there are things you can do. Your first step should be purchasing a shredder for your home.

The shredder should become your best friend. Anything that comes into your home that has an account number, birthday, or even social security number that you do not keep and file away in a locked storage box should be shredded. Once the papers are shredded, you can choose to either throw them away as normal, or burn the papers to ensure that nobody can get your personal information from them. While this helps, there are still other ways you can become the victim of identity theft.

Another way is by careless use of your credit card information online. While online shopping is a huge help for many people and really makes shopping around a much easier task there are some websites that just frankly do not protect information. You should never shop on a website that does not ask for credit card information on a secure web page. To identify the secure web page you should look for a HTTPS on the beginning of the address. Web pages that are not secure will only have HTTP instead. If you submit your information to a website that is not secure, you are leaving the possibility of someone intercepting your information open. This can result in identity theft and many people do not realize this risk when shopping.

Your last and final suggestion is to ensure that you carefully check all of your credit card statements and bank account statements each month. If you see any charges that you do not recognize you should immediately contact the bank or card issuer and inquire as to what the charge is and from who. If you still do not know the charge you need to immediately arrange to file a fraud report. However, if you even remotely suspect the charge is correct do not file a fraud charge or you could find yourself in legal troubles. Only dispute charges that are not authorized, and ensure you keep copies of all papers to have for your own personal records.

As you can see, with some precautions taken it is possible to help ensure your credit is protected without having to spend hours each week checking up on everything. Use the tools to your advantage and do not let yourself be taken advantage of.
See also:
Privacy, Fraud, and Scams: Fake Credit Report Sites
Privacy, Fraud, and Scams: Automatic Debit Scams
10 Scams to Screen from Your Email: Part 1
10 Scams to Screen from Your Email: Part 2
Privacy, Fraud, and Scams: Cashier’s Check Fraud Part 1
Privacy, Fraud, and Scams: Cashier’s Check Fraud Part 2