How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Nearly everyone has heard of the recent theft of credit card and other personal data from 40 million users in the Target stores system. That figure was later revised to 70 million, which is slightly less than one in every four Americans. The total impact of this identity theft loss is still unknown. It does one thing for sure-heighten everyone’s awareness of this issue.

My daughter recently went to Target for some items and used her credit card. She thought systems were in place, long enough after the initial shock, that she would be safe. Wrong! She got notified by her bank that her card was compromised. While she is waiting for a new card she is hoping that there is no loss on her part.

The statistics on identity theft and identity fraud are astounding. Every year approximately 15,000,000 residents of the US are victims with financial losses approaching $50 billion a year. The average loss to individuals totals close to $3500 and weeks if not months to repair credit issues. It is a time-consuming and expensive proposition to have your identity stolen.

In this article we are going to outline some common sense and little-known methods to protect your identity from being hijacked.

1. It used to be that the old-fashioned way of stealing our identity was literally stealing a wallet or purse and getting the information that way. With new technology, your identity can be stolen without you even knowing it right out of your purse are your back pocket. Thieves use sophisticated card readers that can scan your information without even touching you. This Stainless Steel Wallet “puts a force field around your credit cards that blocks RFID scanning by thieves.”
2. Dumpster diving is still popular with credit card thieves. The words say it all.
3. Skimming has become popular especially at ATM machines and gas station pumps where devices can read the magnetic strip on your card so thieves can commit credit card fraud.
4. Phishing is the modern way to get you to reveal your personal information. Thieves send spam or pop-up messages enticing you to reveal personal information.
5. Telephonic or email offers that sound too good to be true are techniques used by credit card thieves to get your personal information.
6. No legitimate organization that we know of uses telephone solicitation to raise money.
7. The latest craze seems to be getting your phone number. From your phone number thieves can get access to a wide variety of personal data.
8. Beware of putting too much personal data on social media websites that are accessible by virtually anyone.

If you take these precautions, your identity will be more secure and you will be less likely to be a victim of this white-collar crime.

Our ID Protector Stamp “renders printed personal information illegible to prevent identity theft and eliminates the need to ever buy expensive shredders again.”