How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Identity theft is a crime in which an imposter obtains another person key pieces of information such as Social Security and driver's license numbers and uses it for their own personal gain without their knowledge or approval.
It can happen to everyone. According to recent statistic survey, there are over 9 million victims of identity theft each year. More and more people are getting victims of identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime in modern world which is on the rise especially with the advent of internet and online transactions.

As always, prevention is better than cure. Rather than wait for identity theft to happen to you and try to unravel the mystery, take the following few precautionary measures to help you reduce your chances of becoming a victim of identity fraud.

- Always make sure that you shred all documents and paperwork which may contain your personal information like pin number, social security number, credit card number, passport number e.t.c. You should make sure that you do not throw away such documents or paperwork anyhow. Avoid throwing such information into dustbins. Fraudsters search through such places for such documents. You should also shred direct mails that contact your name and your contact address.

- But sometimes, you might need to have such documents for future use or reference. Therefore make sure that you store your personal information securely at home. You can use lockable file cabinets or safes to keep your important documents. In some cases, especially for documents that you rarely use, you can deposit them with your bank. This reduces the chance of criminals getting such information even when they break in into your safes.

- If you are going shopping, avoid carrying around many credit cards and debit cards with you. They are a security risk incase you are attacked. When shopping online, try not to use debit cards. Instead use credit cards. Always make sure that you carry your credit card receipts and dispose them well to avoid your credit card details getting into the wrong hands. If your debits cards or credit cards are stolen or lost, inform your card issuers and cancel them immediately.

- Try to memorize all your passwords and avoid writing them and carrying them in your wallet. Do not give your passwords to anybody.

- Never give your credit or debit card numbers, social security numbers and any other personal information over the phone, mail, or on the internet to suspicious characters or unsolicited contacts.

If by any chance you become a victim of identity theft, report the matter urgently to the relevant authorities. It may help to reduce the extent of damage you incur.

Tracking down the perpetrators of identity theft is often a long, complicated, tiresome and time consuming affair. In fact victims of identity theft claim that they get minimal theft from the authorities they report on their plight.

For more information on identity theft prevention, be sure to visit the following websites. They have information which might be valuable to help you in protecting your identity.

http://www.idtheftcenter.org
http://www.privacyrights.org/identity.htm
http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html
http://www.identitytheft.org/