Bad Credit Blog

What The Crooks Themselves Say About Identity Protection

By Dewey Kearney

Not many of us have the opportunity to ask a convicted felon what you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft . Someone I know had the opportunity recently - and knowing we had a website dedicated to bad credit, credit repair and identity protection asked me if I was interested in what they had to say. Was I, boy – and how! Right from the horses mouth, as they say.

The First Thing they all said was simple enough – SHRED everything that contains personal information. How simple and yet profound. And yet they said shredding alone isn’t enough, use a cross-shredder. I have one of those but suddenly realized how little I use it.

Shredding alone isn’t enough because a dedicated criminal sometimes can piece the items back together. I actually tried it and it isn’t easy but I was able to do it on a document. If I had a whole box of shredded items it would be much harder. The difference in price between the two types of shredders is just a small amount, well worth the investment.

Most of us don’t give a second thought about our trash but a good thief does. One man’s trash – another man’s treasure the old saying goes. Just because it’s gone from your home or apartment doesn’t mean it’s “gone forever.” A dedicated thief can make a good living from your trash if you aren’t diligent.

What Should You Shred? Anything that is of a personal nature. Bank statements, credit card offers, anything from a financial institution, insurance insurance bills. I have a reverse mortgage on my home and every month I receive an update. This has my name and account numbers that some smart crook could easily manipulate for their benefit.

Pre-approved credit card offers make you very vulnerable. They can use these to open an account in your name, then they put a change of address and you never know about it. Don’t believe this? It’s true and it happens all the time.

Another Tip: Use caution about putting outgoing bills in your mailbox. About a month ago the Arizona Republic ran an article about thefts occurring from mailboxes in Sun City Arizona. Sun City is a quiet retirement community of folks just wanting to live their lives in peace, and yet there was a rash of mailbox thefts there. Once the thief has your envelope they have your checking information, the account number from the place you were sending it, your current home address and many times your phone number. That’s enough information to start a whole new life for someone using your name. The Arizona Republic recommended that you take your mail to the post office yourself rather than chance leaving it unguarded in the box.

Another Tip. Guard your social security number. Never give it out unless you know to whom you are giving it. Don’t carry it on your person and never give it over the Internet.

One Final Tip: Register for identity protection through LifeLock. They are the nation’s leading credit protection agency. For around $30 a month you can guarantee that an identity thief will NEVER get your information. And LifeLock backs that up with a multi-million dollar guarantee. In fact, the owner of the company is so sure you can’t steal his identity I’ve actually heard him state his name and social security number over the radio! Signing up for LifeLock’s service is the single best thing you can do to protect your identity from being stolen.

If you use common sense you can prevent a lot of headaches that identity theft theft can cause.

What to do if you are already a victim? Well that’s another article. Be careful!

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