The FTC and other bodies have started identity theft prevention programs to try to make the general public more aware of methods to protect their identity from the thieves who would like to use it for their own purposes.  These programs offer identity protection tips so that individuals know what to look for to see if a burglar has accessed their info as well as offering advice on what to do to stop it from going down in the 1st place. 

Most of these identity theft prevention programs say that making the public aware of the danger is the biggest way to help to stop the problem from getting worse.

Shredding Private Documents

One tip in the identity theft prevention programs is to destroy any private info before it is thrown into the rubbish can.  This is particularly important for any documents that will have full deposit account or social security information on it.  It’s also vital for documents that have full credit card information on them, such as the credit card statements themselves. 

Phone and utility bills can also be a problem since the account number is mentioned on the bill as well as the home address and identity thieves can occasionally get away with using just that information to add a connection or transfer an account so that they can use it for their own purposes.

Social Security Number

Another tip from identity theft prevention programs is to safeguard the social security card and SSID number at any cost.  The social security card should be stored in a safe place where it may not be easily accessed by strangers.  If there are roommates in the house, the card should be kept in a locked place at all times.  It should never be carried in the purse or wallet because it is too easy to steal it. 

To  Protect Yourself from Identity Theft, these prevention programs also caution not to give out the Social Security ID over the telephone or web unless the individual has began the phone call so they are sure that the company is official. 

Secure Passwords

Lastly, the identity theft prevention programs warn not to use apparent passwords when creating accounts, particularly bank accounts and other high security accounts.  Many people will use birth dates, their mother’s prenuptial name, or the last four digits of a Social Security ID and these are too simple for burglars to work out, permitting them to access those accounts and rob money from them.

As part of Norton Internet Security software, there’s a program called Identity Safe.  You can set a password within Identity Safe and the program will remember all your login information for internet sites that you use frequently.  Make sure you use  a terribly complex password for Identity Safe – a mixture of letters, both lowercase and uppercase, and numbers – they should be irregular letters and numbers that have no meaning.

Identity Theft Protection Services

Obviously, there is only a little that an individual can do to protect themselves.  The best method is to use an Identity  Theft Protection Company; they are surprisingly inexpensive but the rewards are that you are going to not become the following identity theft statistic.  This is no joke, as an identity is stolen every two seconds in the USA; that is over 15,000,000 folks a year!


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