Simple Steps to Protect Your Identity

Simple Steps to Protect Your Identity

This month, I will discuss identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission, "Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes" Approximately 31,000 Californians reported Identity Theft in 2002. Our identities are the most important assets we have. We can help safeguard our identities by following these simple precautionary steps.

Residential Listing

The local phone directory often reveals our full names, addresses and of course, phone numbers. Someone with access to a phone book could very quickly gain our correct spelling, home address and phone. They could use that information to order goods and services, or to find out when we're usually away from home. As a solution, I suggest either changing the phone directory listing to show only our first initial, or better yet, pay the phone company a nominal fee to unlist the phone number.

Carbon Sheets

Retailers verify our identity by comparing a driver's license or charge card signature to the one we create when signing charge slips. While this helps prove that the person making the transaction is the legitimate charge card owner, it also creates a loophole. Some charge card slips have multiple copies including a carbon sheet. Thieves have been known to peruse through garbage cans for carbon sheets that contain a charge card number and the mandatory signature. As a solution, I suggest taking the receipt and carbon sheet when departing the store. Garbage-browsing thieves won't find carbon sheets with our signature.

Electronic Signatures

Other retailers ask us to sign a touchpad when authorizing transactions. This creates an electronic version of our signature, which I am concerned, could end up anywhere. As a solution, merely scribble on the touchpad and show the clerk our driver's license. This helps prove to the clerk who we legitimately are and also keeps our signatures off the scanner.

Pre-approved mail offers

How many of us receive mail that contains a form with our name, address and some financial information already filled in? Usually these serve as applications for a charge card, mortgage insurance or some other product or service we don't want. Although we don't want the product or service, we do have a form with private information. As a solution: destroy these filled-in forms. Burn them. Shred them to pieces. Feed them through a crosscut shredder. Do not merely drop these filled-in forms in the garbage or recycling bin. Thieves are quite comfortable browsing through others' garbage to find their private information. Discarded papers and items left in garbage and recycling bins at the curb are not exempt from others' perusal.

Our identities are the most important assets we have. We can help safeguard our identities by following these simple precautionary steps.