Bankruptcy Prof Blog

Posts Tagged ‘prevent identity theft’

Our own mouth can be the biggest leak in our personal identity in that we tend to offer personal information all too freely. You must develop a sense of privacy about such things as even your home address, phone number and any financial information that can be used against you. This includes even the government.

Without much thought, we might divulge just enough to tip off a stalker. You know, even those innocent chats with the guy next to you on the bus can lead to a form of identity theft that can be used to harm you or your family.

It doesn’t take much for a guy to find your place after you casually mention where you live. Then all he has to do is drive through the neighborhood, note when you come and go from home (especially if your wife is home alone), how many children, what kinds of cars, boats and such you have. They will even dig through your mail and poke around in the trash for useful information.

I bet you didn’t think about this the last time you shared so freely with a stranger, huh? No way! It therefore behooves you to guard your words.

How many times have you engaged in conversation with someone and been asked, “So, where do you live?” We then automatically respond with something like, Oh, I live in such and such neighborhood, or down by the old schoolhouse, etc. How about the information you put on your checks, or when you are giving information to the doctor, or some merchant to sign up for that buying club membership.

Or when we sign up for that cell phone we give our residence address. Or, we have done some act of kindness and a person wants our address to send a thank you note. We can’t just refuse to give our address for these because we may want some of these services.

So, what do we do? We use an alternate address, sometimes called a ghost address.

There are several ways to go about this. You can use the address of a relative you trust. Perhaps you can have mail sent to public servant such as a lawyer or accountant who receives mail. There are mail receiving places that will collect your mail much like a post office does. These same agencies may even have a forwarding service if you choose to live out of the area. Still other might pay a private individual to have mail sent through their address and forwarded. Take care though as some offer to pick up packages but others won’t. Some will only take first class mail. So always ask.

Once you decide on which one to use, begin switching your car registration, drivers license, and address on your checks. Call your cell phone provider and give them the change of address. All subscriptions to magazines must be changed as well.

Also, call the credit bureau and give a change of address. Your goal is to have your residence address disassociated with your name. So that when a potential identity thief or stalker uses any number of databases to run your name, all they will get is the alternate address you have on file. Your true residence will remain hidden.

You may wish to have 2 alternate addresses to use for different things. For example, your driver’s license and registration must have a residence in your state. But financial mail and almost all other mail can have an address in another state or even in another country. Then, at your request, your mail can be forwarded to you or picked up in person by you at your convenience.

Achieving a degree of privacy is a simple as keeping your mouth shut and only giving limited information about where you live. In this way you can avoid identity theft.

Want to find out more about how toavoid identity theft, then visit Anthony Niles’s site here: AvoidIdentityTheftTips.com where he offers a free report on 7 steps to Personal Privacy.

Try to prevent identity by knowing the forms and methods used by the scammers to perpetrate this crime which can apparently lead to utter disappointment. These thieves have an organized network just like the members of social networking sites. As a matter of fact, these criminals love to set their webs on the internet for they find this place very convenient for their abominable schemes.

Social networkers and internet users are susceptible victims of identity theft because they are too eager to amass a great number of friends on the web. With this goal in mind, they commit the most common mistake of willingly giving away their personal information to anyone they find amusing or interesting. They also fail to realize that these could be people with bogus identities.

It has also been the common mistake of these social networkers and other internet users to give personal information to unverified sources coming from unsolicited mails. Some are victimized having been befriended by these bums. To befriend these innocent people is the simplest way they can gain access to their accounts particularly if these are hackers on the loose.

These thieves often offer tempting gifts or reward usually in monetary form but they need the information about your credit number and bank account number. This is a ploy being adapted by some bogus sites in order to attract the unsuspecting online shoppers. Thus, it is very important to take caution with these types of unbelievable offers if you want to prevent identity theft.

If you notice, all these mails are asking for the same information and the pattern of the questionnaire is almost the same in all those unsolicited mails. This is one way of extracting very sensitive information from you which can lead to your downfall and dismay. Always bear in mind that not a single cent will reach your postal or your bank account but solicitation of sum of money.

Scammers have methods of enticing their victims into there trap to get a person’s valuable information which these evil minds find useful for their purpose. They usually employ the “phishing method” and “email spoofing”. These methods are applicable to online users. They have been able to get your email add after you have given them in the guise of being friends who want to chat with you.

It is easier to prevent identity theft than retrieving a lost or restoring a destroyed name or reputation. This is something which you will have to live up with for the rest of your life which is of course very demoralizing. These criminals are very good in getting you into their evil schemes.

You also notice that the mails you receive from unknown sources look very formal and official with matching logos and letterheads. But the contents are ALL practically the same and the portion for your personal information virtually has the same pattern for all the mails. If you happen to give your contact number, you will also receive anonymous phone calls. For all these, you just have to dismiss them at once and do not entertain them anymore so you can help yourself prevent identity theft.

Identity theft has gone rampant these days and you never know who’s going to be the next victim. To prepare yourself from this unscrupulous crime, you should prevent identity theft to have peace of mind. Or you may want to try identity theft protection.