Posts Tagged ‘identity theft’

How can you protect your identity from being stolen?

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

It can take years of stress and thousands upon thousands of dollars to clear the wreckage left in your life after an identity theft. While nobody has figured out a way to protect your identity 100%, there are some steps you can take to protect your information:

  • Don’t give out personal information over the Internet, phone, or mail, unless you’re certain who you’re talking to and that you can trust them – identity thieves are sneaky! Be especially careful about giving out your social security number. Employers and financial institutions need your SSN for tax reasons, but lots of other people, like the cable company or your landlord, might not do business with you without it. Find out what they do to protect your information or if there’s any way you can avoid giving them your SSN.
  • Some identity thieves go through your garbage or steal your mail to find and use private information. Before throwing away anything that contains important personal information – like bills or receipts – shred them. Mail anything that contains sensitive information in big postal boxes at the post office, and inform the postal service if you’re going to be away so mail isn’t left in the open at your house for long periods of time. You can also opt out of pre-screened credit offers (which thieves can use to open cards in your name) by checking out any of the national credit bureaus’ websites.
  • If you’re really worried, you can institute a credit freeze – laws about this differ from state to state, but in most states anyone can do this. It won’t affect companies with whom you’re already doing business, but it does prevent anyone else from purchasing your credit report from a reporting agency. This makes it nearly impossible to for an identity thief to open a line of credit in your name. If you want to start a new card, you can temporarily lift the freeze and put it back.

Although there is no fool-proof method to safeguard your identity, by following these simple steps you can potentially save yourself a whole lot of money and hassle.

Is it OK to buy stuff online with your credit card?

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Shopping online is wonderful. You can shop in your pajamas, you can compare prices without going all over town, and you have virtually every store to choose from. However, many people are still worried about the safety of buying online. Fortunately, online stores have realized this and taken steps to ensure your credit card information stays safe.

You should never simply trust a website because it is a well-known brand. Check the bottom of the page to see what type of security the website uses. Here are several tips to keep your sensitive information to yourself:

  • Use a credit card instead of a debit card when shopping online. Many credit card companies offer full fraud protection that keep you from being responsible for any fraudulent purchases. There are also pre-paid credit cards that you can get rid of once you’ve used up the balance. These cards aren’t linked to any of your account or personal information, and they make it hard for thieving hackers to steal a lot of money from you.
  • One easy way to check the security of the website is to look closely the URL. When you are entering sensitive information, the URL should always be https:// instead of http:// which ensures it is secure.
  • Lastly, it is important to shop at your own computer and not on a public one. Public computers could be infected with spyware and any information you enter could be captured by hackers.

It is important to constantly keep up to date with latest security features to make sure you are taking the correct precautions when purchasing online but following these tips is a first step to ensuring your sensitive informations stays safe.