Identity Theft Can Happen To Anyone These Days

Identity theft can happen to anyone these days. It can happen by an uninformed consumer giving their personal or financial information to a fraudulent web site or it can happen by an employer of a large company losing his or her laptop exposing millions of people’s most personal information. If you would like to protect yourself from identity theft, here are a few tips.

One of the best ways to stop identity thefts is to request a credit report from the big three credit bureaus each year or even every six months. The three credit bureaus include Trans Union, Expedia and Experian. Looking at your credit report regularly will easily help you to determine if a new credit card was issued or a new loan taken out. If you did not enroll for these lending products, you can contact the lending institution and credit bureau immediately, hopefully heading off any damage done by identity thieves.

If you surf the internet, it is important to note that you should never give out any personal information through an email link. If you receive an email that looks legitimate from a bank, lending institution or anywhere for that matter that asks you to click on a link to enter personal information, refrain from doing so.

Close the email, open up your browser with a new web page and visit the website directly. Practically all websites will have personal notices that you can access on the main site.

If you want to protect yourself from identity theft, check out the above tips.

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Vaporizing Emails and the Security Industry Regulatory Bodies

There is a new email system you can get called vaporstream and if you and the person who emails you both have it, then as soon as you read the email it vanishes into thin air just like the movie; Mission Impossible, with the self destructing tapes or high-tech message system. For Identity safety this makes sense, perhaps you will remember when AOL accidentally made available hundreds of thousands of records?

Self-destructing emails make a lot of sense but in some industries such as the securities Industry this will surely upset the securities and Exchange Commission and NASD, even the State Security Regulatory Bodies will have a fit over this one. You see you are suppose to keep your emails to all clients for basically ever. But if all else fails the undetermined length to keep emails would not be less than 6-years, just like tax returns.

securities Professionals are forbidden to use instant messaging for this reason. Now with vaporstream you can bet that the regulatory bodies will not go for this at all. Additionally, the regulatory bodies are worried that International Terrorists might use vaporstream self-destructing emails and if they do that could be a problem for financial transfers to the sneaky bad guys, as the authorities are trying to stop the money trails. In any case this new technology will potentially cause a problem with many industries, but consumers will enjoy the privacy. Consider all this in 2006.

By Lance Winslow

Protecting Yourself Against Identity Theft

You’ve probably seen the statistics on identity theft that say, “500,000 – 700,000 Americans fall victim to identity theft each year.” Protecting one’s self against identity theft has become a very popular topic. Protecting yourself from falling victim to identity theft does not take much more than common sense and paying attention to what you are doing. There is no sure fire way to completely protect yourself but there are a number of things you can do to reduce the chances of being a victim of identity theft.

The most important step you can take to protect yourself from identity theft is to keep your personal information private. Don’t share your social security number, driver’s license number, mother’s maiden name, etc. with individuals or companies that you are unfamiliar with. Especially, don’t give out personal information through email or the Internet unless you are certain you are on a secure server. To identify whether a server is secure, look at the bottom of the navigation bar for a lock symbol. There should also be other signs that you are on a secure server, for example a message stating so or “https” in the URL.

Along with not giving out your personal information it is also important to know who your friends are. Believe it or not but identity theft victims often times know the thief. It could be a family member, someone that has been in your home, a friend, baby sitter, or even your land lord. Keep your personal information along with your financial information in a safe and secure place where others don’t have easy access to it.

Watch your mail for any suspicious activity. Are you receiving your bills on time each month? If you notice that you are missing a bill or your bills are no longer being delivered this could mean someone has changed your address to gain access to your personal information. Call your service or financial provider immediately to see if there have been any changes made to your account. When paying your bills each month go a little out of your way and drop off your bills in a secure blue USPS mail box or deliver them directly to the post office.

When disposing of personal information, financial statements, or any paperwork that has account numbers on it, use a shredder. Don’t assume people will not dig through your trash because it is disgusting. people do and they will to get your personal information.

These are but a few tips in protecting yourself from identity theft. Monitor your credit report regularly and watch for any suspicious activity. The sooner you are able to detect the signs of identity theft the less the damage will be. If you do fall victim to identity theft report it immediately.

Jason Deines writes for an informational website, MyInfoSource.biz. Visit MyInfoSource for additional information on Identity Theft