Ways to Prevent Identity Theft

Despite the sobering statistics on identity theft, there are many common-sense ways to prevent identity theft. Granted, there's very little you can do if some doofus at your insurance company leaves his information-packed laptop in the back of a cab while traveling, but there are steps you can take to decrease the risk dramatically within your sphere of control.

Prevent Identity Theft

The simplest way to decrease the likelihood of your personal information ending up in the wrong hands is to not give it out in the first place. As a rule, never reveal anything unless absolutely necessary. This inevitably brings us to these safety points:

There are tons of dummy websites out there posing as the real thing, except they're virtual flytraps for peoples' passwords and social security numbers. Others attempt to install spyware that logs sensitive information when accessing the real bank website (or whatever). Some even send emails, hoping you'll believe that the bank somehow misplaced your account info and need you to refresh their memory.

Whatever the approach, you can thwart most of these threats with a reliable anti-virus/firewall combination, like those offered by McAfee, Symantec, F-Secure and others, coupled with a healthy serving of common sense. Mistrust everything, and if anything looks the slightest bit fishy, back off.

If a suspicious site pops up a window asking for confirmation that you really want to install something, don't click neither Yes nor No -- shut down the browser window using X in the upper right corner, or hit Ctrl + Alt + Delete, open the task manager and shut down the browser from there. There's a chance the popup message isn't a legit system query at all, but rather works like a cleverly disguised ad that interprets any click as approval to install something malicious on your system.

You've heard it a thousand times before, but it bears repeating: don't put anything even remotely sensitive in the trash, ever. Ripping a credit card offer in three or four pieces is NOT enough -- you need to create confetti, preferably marinated in coffee grinds and bacon grease, to repel a determined dumpster diver. Or set aside a burn pile next to the fireplace for starting the fire on cold winter nights.

Credit cards are convenient, but they also present a risk for skimming and worse. "Cash is King", as the saying goes, and while it may sting to lose a couple hundred bucks to a pickpocket or mugger, it's nothing compared to the hell that awaits if your credit profile falls into the hands of more sophisticated thieves.

These days, your cash isn't necessarily the most attractive possession for a pickpocket. While he or she may be a simple criminal, there are hackers and con artists who are happy to pay hundreds of dollars for a set of credit cards, social security cards and ID papers like drivers licenses.

You have no reason to carry your social security card or anything else with these magical numbers on your person. Likewise, any personal information like your home address, family names, phone numbers, PIN codes and anything else that might serve to help a clever thief should stay at home.

If you absolutely can't remember the passwords and PIN codes in your life and need to carry a "cheat sheet" with you, at least modify your cheat sheet to be misleading. For example, all passwords should have a "1" at the end not noted on the cheat sheet, and the last PIN number on each code should be one digit higher, i.e. If your ATM code is 2468, you write 2467 on your cheat sheet.

Your elderly grandmother may be a gentle soul, which is why a ruthless social hacker may try to manipulate her to reveal information about you. Suppose she gets a call from someone who claims to be from the local police department. They caught a burglar with a stolen TV that should be returned to someone at your address, but they may have the wrong person -- perhaps she can help work this out by verifying your full name and social security number?

Finally, let your congressperson know that you want tighter control and more accountability from the big credit companies. Today, the ease of credit is often valued higher than protecting the consumer, making Americans more vulnerable to identity theft than citizens of many European countries, where they must for example be notified in writing whenever someone applies for credit or even checks their credit rating. There are many ways to prevent identity theft, but you can't keep the fort entirely secure as long as the big companies are allowed to keep a wide, gaping hole in the wall for their convenience.

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