The most frequent theft that occurs nowadays is the one that you would least expect happen to you. I’m talking about identity theft it happens every year unexpectedly to millions. Do you know how to protect yourself to not be one of the millions stolen every year. Here’s few tips that will make getting your identity almost impossible
Shredders- Having one of these will do miracles to protecting your identity from a potential theft. Shredders come in all shapes and sizes. What I recommend is that you get a shredder that can shred paper and cards for your bank account numbers, credit card statements and old addresses. Then the card portion of shredder for credit or debit cards so you can properly get rid of old and unused ones more safely.
Credit card reports-You should constantly check your credit card reports to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary going on. I’d recommend checking them at least twice every month. So if an identity theft has occurred you will know about it and be able to act fast in early stages before more information can be stolen.
Passwords- Smart phones are the new thing that everyone has and if your constantly on different wifi signals your passwords can very well be at risk. You could be exposing all your bank information and other important passwords to others on the same connection as you. That’s why Changing your passwords every month is a must what I recommend is choosing passwords that are hard to guess, and can be memorized.
Mail- Leaving mail inside the mailbox is like a identity theft jackpot, because it has all the important information for the thief to obtain your identity. So make sure that you check your mailbox every single day to ensure that it’s empty. Never leave mail in their longer than a few hours after it arrives and if you got important documents you need to mail away go straight to the post office and send it from there.
Debit and credit cards- Make sure you don’t carry too many debit or credit cards on you at any given time. Doing so will greatly increase the chance of potential thief obtaining them if you misplace your wallet or purse. Also make sure to always keep an eye on anyone who holds your credit or debit cards while making a purchase this can be a waiter to cashier to a pharmacist you never know who can be a identity thief.
ATM-When using a ATM always use the same ones in a brightly lit location if possible only used ones inside of the bank. ATM’s are frequent machines that thief’s use to place Skimmers. Which is a small device that’s designed to look like its part of the machine its attached to then it keeps a copy of the black strip behind your debit card or credit card which contains all your important information. This information can then be sent to the thief via blue-tooth or retrieved when they pickup the device. This also applies to gas station as well try and avoid dirty looking gas station. That’s usually a sign of low maintenance which is easy for skimmer to plant their devices. What I recommend is every-time before swiping anything that involves a credit or debit card is give it a firm tug or two and if something feels loose or looks out of place simply walk away.
Best offense is good defense– Losing your identity can be a very tough thing for you to go through it’s very time consuming and hard to get back everything that you’ve lost. The above steps will help ensure that your identity is that much safer to not be found by a potential thief. Always remember to shred everything that’s old then properly dispose of it and be sure to check your credit card reports monthly don’t use ATM or gas stations in sketchy area’s. Always keep updating your important passwords and paying careful attention to anyone who gets near your debit or credit card. Always leave your mailbox empty of mail these tips alone will lower your chances of identify theft greatly.