Fraud Tip of the Day - November 10

Deter Identity Theft

The best way to fight Identity Theft is to stop it before it happens. To help, we present these identity theft detterent tips designed to help you protect your good name.

ID theft is a crime involving someone using your personal information without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes. If your identity is stolen, it can ruin your good name and do terrible damage to your credit rating. Repairing your credit and restoring your reputation can take a lot of time and money. Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to deter identity theft before it happens.

How to deter identity thieves by protecting your personal information:

• Shred your financial documents or any kind of paperwork containing your personal information before you throw them away or recycle them.
  
  
• Protect your Scocial Security number. Never carry your Social Security card around in your wallet or purse. Never write it on a check. Only give your Social Security number out if you absolutely must or ask if you can use another form of personal identifier.
  
  
• Don't give out personal information over the phone, through email, or over the internet unless you are 100% positive you know where you are and who you're sending it to.
  
  
• Never click links found in unsolicited emails. If you feel a need to visit the site, type in the web address. Protect your computer by using firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virues software and keeping them up-to-date.
  
  
• Use safe passwords that aren't obvious to ID thieves. Don't use your birthday, your mother's maiden name, or the last four digits of your Social Security number as all or part of any password.
  
  
• Keep your personal information and sensitive documents in a secure place in your home. Take extra care if you have roommates, baby sitters, cleaning staff or work is being done to your home.

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