How to Prevent Identity Theft

Today, with the increase use of the internet, identity theft is growing at an alarming rate. When a person steals your identity a person can commit a crime under your name or apply for a credit card, maxing it to its limit and leaving you with the bill. How Identity Thieves Work * Gleaning information from a person's trash or stealing their mail. * Gaining data from thrown away computers or files. * Obtaining personal information from government websites, the internet or private company files. * From lost or stolen wallets or handbags.

* Stealing information from a credit card by skimming it through a card reader. * Obtaining information from a person's personal computer through security weaknesses. * Taking on the guise of an employee from a trusted organization. * Skimming information from people's personal pages on MySpace and Facebook. How to Prevent Identity Theft Preventing identity theft can be simple. * Shred or tear up personal mail and papers before throwing them out.

This includes credit card offers, bank account details and tax return information. * Do not give out your personal information in replies to unsolicited emails or to emails asking for financial data. * Keep your credit card in your sight when paying for bills to avoid someone taking the few seconds to put your card through a card reader in order to steal your credit card data. * Do not give out personal information over the phone, no matter who they say they are. Finally, a good way to ensure that your identity is never stolen is to join a identity theft protection company. These companies will monitor your personal information and credit data, notifying you about any suspicious behavior.

Fees for such services begin at only a few dollars per week.

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