More on identity theft.

[moneysense]

As you know, one of the most important rules is to not give out your social security number or financial information to unsolicited requests for the same.

Also, before you discard your credit cards, ATM reciepts, or pre approved credit offers, shred them.

Be sure to check all credit card statements and likewise bank statements for mistakes. They are all made out by humans and humans make mistakes.

Dont make your pin numbers simple ones. Birthdays, anniversary dates etc are too easy for potential thieves to figure out.

Get a copy of your credit report at least once a year and look it over for mistakes.

Make sure when you shop online that you only use secure sites. These pages begin with https and not http. So be sure to check the url of the site.

Pay by credit card only when shopping online to be sure you get what you pay for and to limit your liability.

Follow the rules above and you should be pretty well protected against identity theft.

Oh and one more, when you use a credit card at a place that still uses the machines, make sure the clerk gives you the carbon copy of the purchase.

[dimetime]

Reading this reminds me of a commercial that I see on TV sometimes and it is really shocking.

The commercial is for IE 8 ( internet explorer 8) I believe but don't hold me to that.

In the commerical there is a fake bank that was set up and people come walking in to open an account because they are offering $500.00 for new accounts.

While people are filling out the paperwork they are asked for some extremely personal information like childhood crushes, DNA for testing, S.S. number, and much much more.

The sad thing about all of this is that people do these types of things on a daily basis. They literally make it easy for criminals to get hold of seriously personal information and then wonder why they are in so much debt and trouble.

I guard my information closely to prevent this type of thing happening to me, because this is the last thing I would want to deal with.