| This is a great question. Believe it or not, it does not take that much effort to protect your identity from the most common methods of identity theft. These tips will help you to protect your identity and keep your personal information, well….personal. |
- Pull your credit report at least one a year. You can do so at www.annualcreditreport.com. Read to be sure that there are no new accounts of which you are unfamiliar. Check out the bottom of the report to see who has pulled your credit report and be sure that you know who these people or entities are.
- Do not give you your personal information such as social security number, birthdate or home address unless you absolutely have to and unless you absolutely know the person or entity to whom you are giving that information.
- Do NOT post your birth date on any social networking sites such as Facebook. Forgo the birthday wishes from the dork in the 3rd grade who friended you on FB in favor of security.
- Do NOT respond to email requests for personal information or passwords. If the email is legitimate, then the sender already has this information and does not need it again. If you are genuinely curious as to whether the email is legitimate, do not respond to it. Instead, log onto the website that allegedly sent you the email and send an email to the support group asking about the legitimacy of the email that you received.
- Be SUSPICIOUS of any email sent to you by a bank, or well known website such as E-bay that does not address you in the body of the email by your name.
- Do NOT throw out documents that contain personal information. Buy a decent shredder and feed it regularly.
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| If you think your rights have been violated, call Attorney Gary Nitzkin, toll free at (888) 293-2882. The call is free and the advice is priceless. You can also email him at [email protected]. |
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