9 Quick Tips for Preventing Identity theft.

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As One of the Fastest Growing Crimes today, the stats regarding Identity theft are staggering.

Some quick stats on Identity theft:

  • 27.3 Million Americans have been victimized by an identity thief within the past 5 years
  • The total cost of this crime is 33 billion of which consumers pay $5 billion
  • the incidence of identity theft hit 42% of all complaints to the FTC in 2003.
  • Every 79 seconds there is an identity theft.
  • In 25% of all cases the victim knows the thief and 35% of those thieves are relatives
  • Almost Half of all identity theft victims are unaware that there identity has been stolen
  • The Average out of Pocket expense to individuals is $500


Here is a checklist with 9 ways to substantially lower your risk of being victimized by an identity thief.

  1. Use a shredder for your discarded mail

  2. Opt out of credit card applications. You can do this by calling 1 (888) 567-8688.

  3. Check Monthly credit card and banking statements.

  4. Close unused credit card accounts, or if keeping for an emergency, request that your bank call you if the card is used.

  5. Sign the back of your credit card

  6. Make sure your bills are current and forwarded to your current address

  7. Never leave credit card bills or receipts behind

  8. Do not give out your Social Security Number to anyone other than your employer, or government. An exception may also occur if you are applying for credit.

  9. Collect your mail as soon as you can, and never leave it in an unlocked box overnight.

Even being this careful, you may want to check your credit report from time to time to make sure nobody has managed to obtain access to your identity. Identity thieves generally don’t pay their bills on time, so your credit report may be your first notification.

You can also find more in depth information on identity theft at http://idtheftcenter.org/ or find products that prevent identity theft in our internet privacy section.

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