Saturday, February 21, 2009

Fight Identity with Shredders


Identity theft is a serious crime. If it's ever happened to you, it's not a great feeling. It's that feeling you get when you go to your car in the morning and you see that it's been broken into, or when you walk into your home from work only to find that it's been broken in and ransacked. You'll feel violated, angry and vulnerable. So prevent this terrible feeling from happening to you. Lock your car, club your car, take out valuables. As for your home, get an alarm system and if you can't then just pray for the best. And for your identity, you can protect this also. Protecting your identity is important because people who still your identity can use it to be many fraudelent activities such as apply for credit cards under your name and information. This can be devastating to your credit history.

Some tips I can give is to never give out your social security number unless you know exactly what it's for. Be especially wary of giving out personal information online or over the phone. If you're ever in doubt, don't be afraid to ask questions or speak to someone higher up such as manager or supervisor. Never ever sign any document unless you're sure of its contents. And maybe the most importat but easy to step to forget is to discard of personal information properly. Unfortunately, there are people who go through trash to find personal information, which they will use to commit identity theft.

In an article on fightidentitytheft.com. It discusses what you should shred and what you should not shred. They state that you should shred, "anything that has a signature, account number, social security number, or medical or legal information (plus credit offers)." They also give you a more complete list on the website, which I will link below. When in doubt if you should shred or not, I think it's always better safe than sorry. If you're going to throw something away, just shredd it. What does it hurt? You only have your identity to protect.


Orginial article

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