ID Theft Preventions

Politics/Social Issues - Social Issues - Crime

By: goodselfme 09-Dec-2011

Introduction:

Protect your identity and those of your family by looking into this list. Some of the statistics will surprise you and might save your identity or someone you love.

Credit Report

Watch the credit report information on you, your spouse and your children. This will give you lots of clues as to what is going on with your identity status.Equifax is a trusted organization to find out any fraudulent activity that might be doing something unbeknown to you. Esperian is a credit report company that can tell you some shifty things going on with your identity in short order. TransUnion is another company that can preserve your solid and secure identity. Each of these are free. It is recommended to check every 4 months and not all together.When one reliable company says everything is legal with your name and identity, trust it until the next four months when you can request a credit report from one of the others mentioned.

Social Security Card

This is a vital document and the number on the Social Security card is valuable.Do not carry the Social Security Card with you and do not let anyone else carry your card with them either. Unless you need to show the card, there is no reason to remove it from the safety deposit box or where ever you are keeping it safe. Furthermore do not put your Social Security number in your cell phone, your address book or any other storage spot. If you must document it somewhere so you will remember it, code it in such a way no one but you will be able to know it is your Social Security number.

Birth Certificates

Birth Certificates are often asked for to prove an age of a person. The original is often the only thing that is accepted, however copies are often approved too. Do not give out many copies of your birth certificate.If it is vital for someone to view the original, let them see it, copy the information down and then take that original copy back to safely store in vault, safety deposit box or other place you keep valuable documents.Avoid giving your birth certificate unless absolutely necessary. When you give it to the authority, ask how they will be using your birth certificate information.

Cell Phone

So much can be stored on the cell phone that someone else can use for stealing your identity. Monitor what you put into your cell phone since when it is stolen your information is also gone.Some unique applications on cell phones allow all sorts of investigating into the private lives of people who keep their data on their mobile phone device.The address book alone can inform the robber of the cell phone numbers who are relatives, friends and business associates of the owner of the phone. Make sure you protect your identity on your prized cell phone possession. As soon as you discover it missing, cancel all account privilidges.

Children

Theft of identity can happen at any age. It is reported by Javelin Strategy and research found that 12 % of the child victims in their study were five years old. 25% of child victims had lines of credit in forclosure or collections were discovered in the study. Then 67% had wrong names or fake ones listed under the child's Social Security account number. Carnegie Mellon reported after scanning 42,000 children bringing shocking results. 19% of these victims were younger than age 10 was stated. 76% of the circumstances involved malicious fraud during this scan.It was also discovered that better than one in ten had someone else in possession and using their Social Security number.This certainly suggests the child can have the credit frozen until they actually need to use if for themselves in the adult years.There is a fee for this service, however well worth it.

Final Thoughts

Don't treat your identity loosely since someone might just be waiting to grab it for illegal purposes. Many illegal aliens are looking to use a great identity, don't let it be yours.

Give this list a high five!

Comments

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tracysmith159 12/9/2011
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It is very important to protect your identity. Identity theft is happening more often. Even I was affected by it once. I learned to keep special password to anything that may lead to personal information.
markgordonbrown 12/9/2011
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Good tips on personal safety.
litetender 12/9/2011
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A great and useful list, Roberta! I'd heard of dead children's identities being stolen before, but never living ones ... there seems no end to the depths of deception and wickedness in the world sometimes.
slund 12/9/2011
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Great list on protecting your identity. I keep my social security card in the safe deposit box.