Identity theft is now one of the fastest growing crimes in the US and the whole world. While the internet has been an important tool in the success of this crime, identity theft is not limited to electronic communications. Others still resort to stealing or garbage rummaging in obtaining the information they need. Having known the modes of how an identity thief works, it is now important to counteract them by understanding important steps in identity theft prevention.
An identity thief’s goal is to gain information about a certain person and use it to their advantage. Knowing the important information to safeguard is a vital step in identity theft prevention. Here are relevant information that should be guarded:
- Name – Although it is definitely hard to avoid giving out your name in certain situations, you still have to be aware of the person or entity you are giving this information to. Make sure that you are not divulging enough to put yourself in a compromising situation.
- Address – This is also critical in the process of identity theft. The thief may change your address to cover his tracks. Because of this, you will not be able to receive your bills and your credit will pile up. When this happens, your good credit is destroyed. Do not place this information in social networking sites especially that it is not needed and not asked for. In any circumstance that you are asked for it, do not give your complete address unless it is serious business. The city and state should be enough.
- Birth date – It is not advisable to include this information in resumes especially that this is not valuable to employers but is valuable to identity thieves. Another thing is that, employers don’t really keep resumes in a safe place so anyone can get access to your personal information through them. Most people also use this as their PINs which should not be the case.
- Social Security number – Probably the most important information to guard is the Social Security number. The SSN is interconnected or associated with other forms of identification and is needed by some financial institutions in the approval of applications for bank accounts, loans, credit cards, etc. When a thief gets hold of this information, he can apply for a new account, a loan or a credit card. As a rule of identity theft prevention, avoid keeping this information in your wallet or in any area that is accessible to thieves. This should not be included in resumes too.
- Passwords and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) – Naturally, if a person gets hold of your PIN, he will be able to access your accounts. Of course, he will purge what he can and may leave you with nothing. Keep your PINs to yourself and use strong passwords that are easy to remember. Avoid using birthdates since this information can easily be tracked.
Information relevant to thieves are not limited to these, but this should be good areas to start for identity theft prevention.
