How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

By Walid L. Petiri

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How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

As you were holiday shopping at full bore and you were searching online or in the store for the perfect gift, someone else may be seeking to steal your good name and credit. Identity theft can be as primitive as "ghosting" - taking a dead person's name and making a fake Social Security card with a scanner, a color copier, and light-blue marbled paper from an art supply store. Or it can involve sophisticated cybercrime forums such as CardersMarket - 6,000 members strong with a server based in Iran, outside the grasp of U.S. authorities. But there are several ways you can defend yourself. Here are just a few tips.

Don't buy things through obscure websites or payment services. We all are now aware that the purchases online like Cyber Monday exceed Black Friday with bargain hunters now successfully searching the far corners of the internet for goodies. While I am not seeking to give Amazon another boost to their gargantuan sales, If you've never heard of the company or the payment method, don't take the risk - or at a minimum, research them to see if there have been any identity theft problems linked to them and/or just old fashioned service complaints. It is surprising what can be unearthed in a quick search and if all goes well you may have found a great new source for your purchases.

Don't sign the backs of your credit or debit cards. Don't put your autograph below the magnetic strip. Instead, write "See I.D" or "Check ID" (which I personally have done for years) Clerks are then required to ask to see the identification of the card user, a step that will discourage (or alert onlookers to) a thief.

Don't talk financial business on cell phones in public places. Besides being poor manners to discuss your fabulous financial life, thieves actually do listen to your conversations in an effort to pick up pieces of information about you to use later.

Hide your Social Security card. The only time you need to show it to anyone is when you start a new job. Otherwise, there's no need to carry it around. Just remember a social security number is the key that unlocks your identity so, if a thief gets their hands on where you were born and when you were born they now know where to try and get a your birth certificate. "I can take that and get a duplicate Social Security card and with that I can get a driver's license and with that I can get a passport and with that I can travel anywhere and be you as much as I want." Says Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.

Don't trash it, shred it. Shred anything financial aside from your tax records: credit card statements, bank statements, old checks, deposit slips, you name it. A cagy thief can borrow thousands of dollars or order checks in your name with such data. If you really must keep these periodic records, hide them in the most unvisited place possible.

Ask for an annual credit report from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. These are the three American credit reporting agencies. Get an annual report from each of them; this will tell you if someone else has opened an account in your name. Visit each of the agencies online at : www.equifax.com ; www.transunion.com ; www.experian.com.

And if you think you may have been a victim of identity fraud here are a couple of sites you can visit:

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/fraud_numbers.html
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/resources/articles/data.shtm