Identity Theft Solutions

Archive for August, 2009

The FTC and other affiliations have started identity theft prevention programs to try to make the public more aware of techniques to protect their identity from the thieves who would like to use it for their own objectives.  These programs offer identity protection tips so that individuals know what to go looking for to work out if a thief has accessed their information as well as offering advice on what to do to prevent it from going down in the 1st place. 

All of these identity theft prevention programs state that making the public conscious of the peril is the largest way to help to stop the difficulty from getting worse.

Shredding Personal Papers

One tip in the identity theft prevention programs is to shred any personal information before it is thrown into the garbage can.  This is particularly important for any documents that will have full checking account or social security information on it.  It is also important for documents that have full credit card info on them,eg the credit card bills themselves. 

Telephone and utility bills may also be a difficulty since the account number is mentioned on the bill as well as the home address and identity thieves can occasionally get away with using just that information to add a connection or transfer an account so that they can use it for their own objectives.

Social Security Number

A further tip from identity theft prevention programs is to protect the social security card and Social Security ID at all costs.  The social security card should be kept in a safe place where it will not be simply accessed by strangers.  If there are lodgers in the house, the card should be stored in a locked place at every point.  It should never be carried in the purse or wallet as it is too simple to steal it. 

To  Protect Yourself from Identity Theft, these prevention programs also warn not to give out the SSID number over the phone or net unless the individual has instituted the telephone call so that they are sure that the organization is official. 

Secure Passwords

Lastly, the identity theft prevention programs warn not to use obvious passwords when creating accounts, especially bank accounts and other high security accounts.  Many folks will use birth dates, their mother’s sur name, or the last four digits of asocial security number and these are too straightforward for thieves to work out, letting them access those accounts and rob money from them.

As part of Norton Internet Security software, there is a program called Identity Safe.  You can set a password within Identity Safe and the program will store all your login information for internet sites that you use often.  Ensure you use  a terribly complex password for Identity Safe - a mixture of letters, both lowercase and uppercase, and numbers - these should be weird numbers and letters that have no meaning.

Identity Theft Protection Companies

Naturally, there is only a certain amount that a person can do to protect themselves.  The best method is to use an Identity  Theft Protection Service; they are incredibly inexpensive but the rewards are that you are going to not become the next identity theft statistic.  This is no joke, as an identity is nicked every 2 seconds in the United States; that’s over 15,000,000 folks a year!