Identity theft is a serious thing and in many cases, it is intended to steal your money. As an example, your stolen data can be used to falsify credit card transaction using your existing account. It will be much easier for perpetrators to impersonate you, by opening new accounts and racking up a lot of purchases, which will become your debt. Due the use of digital database and data transmission, it is relatively easy for people to steal your information. Some people are reckless enough share vital information openly on social media. It is important that you can become more vigilant and you should avoid becoming identity theft victims. There are precautions that you can do to ensure that you will not be affected by identity theft cases.
First of all, you should make sure to annually check your credit reports. This is the basic method to protect your identity and it’s an important line of defense that you should know of. You can do this by contacting major credit reporting agencies. In this situation, it should be possible to check any discrepancy and inaccuracy. The next step is to ensure that your social security number is protected. Many businesses ask for your SSN, when you do this; you should give your SSN to very trusted organizations. It is important that you shouldn’t give out your SSN to people, over the Internet or phone. It is also a good idea to leave the Social Security card at home, because you often don’t need it anywhere. When you misplace your wallet or purse, people could easily take advantage of your SSN.
In any case, it is always a good idea to have your PIN and passwords fully protected. It is important that you never write them down. You should choose your passwords smartly. They should appear random to other people, but there are patterns that you recognize; so you can remember them more easily. It means that you shouldn’t use child’s birthdates and mother’s maiden name as your passwords. It is important that you know your billing cycles and it is a good idea to properly expect your bills. You should check whether any of them is late. Missing bill and late payment in your statements could indicate unknown transactions. You can dispute these transactions and refuse making payments, by showing your evidences that these transactions are illegal.
In general, you should shred anything that has critical information in it. Having them somewhere could be an open invitation to identity theft. In this case, it should be a good idea to purchase a cross-cut shredder, so you can destroy any information. You should know that technology isn’t always helpful and it is important to avoid distributing any kind of important personal information over the Internet and mobile devices. It is important to protect your computer for any kind of intrusion. Firewall should be good enough to protect your data against typical intrusions. Firewalls can still be breached, but bad people don’t want to waste time and they will choose easier targets. So, don’t become easier targets!