As a member of the U.S. Military and away from your usual posting, you should consider placing an “Active Duty Alert” on your credit report.  This alert will help to minimize your risk of identity theft while your deployed.  A persons credit report contains the most vital personal information, including your home address, how you pay your bills, whether you have been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy.  It is routine for banks, insurers, employers, utility companies and businesses to use the information in your credit report to evaluate your application for a mortgage, credit card, car loan, cell phone and much more.  With you away, perhaps on the other side of the world, identity thieves have a perfect opportunity to use your personal information to open new accounts in your name.  The thieves will most probably not pay the bills and the delinquent accounts show up in your personal credit report. 

 

Fraudulent and inaccurate information may affect your ability to get a loan, rental housing, car insurance or credit card when you return to the U.S. or long after your return.  This is why we suggest you place an active duty alert because according to the Federal Trade Commission, the alert requires creditors and businesses to verify your identity before issuing credit or opening an account in your name.  The active duty alert makes it much more difficult for the identity thief to use your personal information in an illegal way.  The active duty alert will last for one year unless you ask to have it removed sooner.  If your deployment exceeds one year you may place another alert.

 

Amendments to the Fair Crediting Reporting Act allow you to place the active duty alert.  To place the alert or remove it, just call the toll free number of one of the nationwide consumer reporting companies, and they are Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union.  These reporting companies will ask for meaningful proof of identity and could include your Social Security number, your name, address and other identifying information.



Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; quifax dot com

Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); experian dot com

TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; transunion dot com



 

 

You only need to contact one of the above companies to place your alert because the company you call is required to contact the other two.  The other two will now place their own alerts on their version of your credit report.  Contact information could change before your alert expires and then you would have to update it.  When the active duty alert is in place, your name gets removed from the nationwide consumer reporting companies’ marketing lists for pre-screened or preapproved offers of credit and insurance, for two years. 

You may ask to have your name placed on the lists, if you want, before deployment.  Please realize that your friends and family know for quite some time that your going to be deployed and one of them could, without knowing it, say something that gets back to an identity thief.  Imagine what the thief could do with your identity while you’re gone for an entire year.  Protect your identity, because identity theft is real and growing in America.

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works

 



By: Randy Vezina

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Identity theft is quickly becoming a worldwide epidemic. The latest statistics reveal that the largest majority of victims are aware of the crime within 30 days; over 25% don’t discover it for six to twenty four months. It is up to all of us to become aware and use identity protection tips to prevent the spread of this crime.

Some of these tips seem to be common sense, and might be things that you are already doing. Others might be tips that you have heard already, and thought about following, but have not started yet. Today is a good day to start protecting yourself from identity theft. Here are seven identity theft protection tips to get you started.

1. Protect your social security number. Never give it out on the internet, and don’t have it printed on your checks. If your health care plan uses your social security number as your membership number, ask them to replace it with a different number.

2. Don’t fall for phishing emails. These emails appear to be from legitimate businesses, such as banks, credit card companies, or EBay. They ask you to reply with your credit card information, or your social security number to correct the information in your account. If you think it might be legitimate, telephone the institution, and verify it. Don’t reply to the email, or click any links in it.

3. Shred, or tear up any pre-authorized credit card offers that you receive in the mail, and don’t want to accept. Also, tear up or shred any papers with your personal information that you are going to throw out.

4. Protect your personal information on your home computer. Use passwords with at least eight characters, and a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. Make sure your firewall is enabled, and your virus and spy ware protection software is up to date.

5. When you are shopping online, take a minute to read the privacy policy on the web site before entering your credit card information. If there is no privacy policy posted, shop elsewhere. Only enter your payment information on secure sites that have a web address that begins with https, and has a padlock symbol in the bottom corner of the browser screen.

6. Check your bank statements and credit card bills as soon as they arrive. If you don’t receive your statements, contact the financial institution immediately. Identity thieves will change the address where the statement is delivered to avoid being caught.

7. Check your credit reports and monitor your credit history. You can get one free credit report each year from each of the three national credit bureaus. You can order a report from a different bureau every four months to monitor your credit.

Use these identity theft protection tips to prevent being the next victim of this crime. Share them with your family and friends to help them stay safe and avoid the turmoil of becoming the next victim of identity theft.



By: Gerri Stone

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Protecting Your Identity

Identity theft can be one of the most difficult situations to deal with. Often, the ill effects of becoming a victim can last for years. Some of the common problems victims face are:

• Money is fraudulently withdrawn from checking or saving accounts

• Mysterious charges appear on credit card bills

• Credit score is damaged

• Experience difficulty opening new banking or credit card accounts

• Calls from collection agencies

• Ending up with a criminal record in error

Identity theft has been called one of the fastest growing white-collar crimes in America. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, Inc., in 2005, over 9 million people were directly affected with total losses exceeding $56 billion. But it doesn’t stop there. It actually affects everyone due to rising costs from merchants and banks to offset their losses. With identity theft growing to an all time high, it is important to do everything you can to keep yourself from becoming a victim.

Ways To Prevent Identify Theft

While there is no way to 100 percent guarantee that you will not become a victim of identity theft, there are some steps you can take to decrease the likelihood that it will happen to you. Follow the steps below to reduce your chances of becoming a victim:

1. Protect your social security number. The number one way criminals are able to establish credit in your name is by having your social security number. Here are some suggestions to better protect your social security number:

• Do not give your full social security number over the phone (most reputable companies will request only the last 4 digits).

• Do not carry your social security card in your wallet.

• Secure or shred any documents that contain your social security number .

2. Protect your incoming and outgoing mail. Many criminals seek out credit card pre-approval offers by sniffing through their victims’ mailboxes. Here are some suggestions to better protect your mail:

• Put all outgoing mail in an actual post office mailbox instead of your home mailbox.

• If you do leave mail in your home mailbox, avoid putting the flag up.

• Shred any pre-approved credit offer letters.

• Keep trash cans in a location that is viewable by your neighbors.

3. Protect your computer. Do not allow hackers easy access to your personal data on your computer. Here are some suggestions to better protect your email:

• Make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus software loaded on your computer.

• Make sure you have up-to-date anti-spyware software loaded on your computer.

• Avoid clicking on links or opening emails from unknown senders.

• Never send sensitive information regarding your personal identity within an email.

Ways To Detect Identity Theft

The sooner you discover an incident of abuse, the better. By doing so, you reduce the amount of money that may be stolen and it becomes less difficult to repair the damage. Here are some simple steps to you can take to detect identity theft early:

• Subscribe to an online credit monitoring service. These services send you email alerts when changes occur within your credit file. The service can be very inexpensive, starting as low as $6.95 a month or lower. Most services include some form of 3-in-1 credit monitoring package.

• Read your bank and credit card statements every month to ensure they do not contain any unauthorized charges. If you do not recognize a charge, call your bank or credit card company immediately.

• View your full credit report 2 times a year minimally. Be sure to compare each one to the previous report.

Your Liability

Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone steals and uses your credit card. (Many credit card companies have a benefit in place that actually waves the $50 fee in case you do become a victim.) However, with ATM cards, you could lose up to $500 or more if you do not report any unauthorized transaction to your bank within two business days. If you do report the unauthorized charges within 2 days, you could limit your liability to only $50.

What To Do if You Become A Victim

No matter how many preventative steps you take to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, the unthinkable can still occur. In this situation, follow the list of steps below to quickly repair any credit damage. The faster you do this, the better.

1. Contact at least one of the three credit reporting agencies and request a fraud alert be placed on your credit report. Once the fraud alert is placed on your account, it will automatically be placed on the other two. This fraud alert is good for 90 days and can be extended up to 7 years if a report is filed with the police department. The fraud alert notifies credit granters to confirm requests for credit with you before granting them. At this time you will also be eligible for a free copy of your credit report from each credit bureau.

2. Report the identity theft to your police of sheriff’s department and obtain a copy of the police report. Creditors will require the police report when you request to remove negative information from your file.

3. Report the identify theft to the Federal Trade Commission. You will need to complete the Identity Theft Affidavit form. Many of the creditors affected by the theft will need this.

4. Close any account affected by the identity theft.

5. Notify all of your credit card companies and let them know you were a victim of identity theft.

6. Close any unfamiliar accounts.

7. Contact the Social Security Administration if you suspect your Social Security number was compromised or is being used by someone else.

8. Keep copies of all correspondence to credit bureaus, creditors, Federal Trade Commission, Social Security Administration, and others pertaining to the identify theft.

Fraud Contacts

If you are a victim of identity theft, the following list will get you started down the path of clearing your good name. They key is to act quickly.

Credit Bureaus

Equifax

Fraud Reporting Line: 1-800-525-6285

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

www.equifax.com

Experian

Fraud Reporting Line: 1-800-EXPERIAN (397-3742)

P.O. Box 9532

Allen, Texas 75013

www.experian.com

TransUnion

Fraud Reporting Line: 1-800-680-7289

Fraud Victim Assistance Division

P.O. Box 6790

Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

www.transunion.com

Federal Trade Commission

1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338)

Identity Theft Clearinghouse

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20580

To file the FTC Report online, visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

Social Security Administration

To report a stolen or misused Social Security number, call

1-800-269-0271

Visit: www.ssa.gov.



By: Kenneth Kelly

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You need to make identity theft protection a top priority. The reality is that one of the most common types of crime today is identity theft. Therefore, it is very important that you really are proactive and effective when it comes to identity theft protection.

If you are like most people in the world today you spend a great deal of time online transacting business. You shop online, you obtain services online. In the end, the Internet and World Wide Web is a wonderful resource when it comes to shopping, engaging services and for many other activities. Identity thieves completely understand this reality – they understand that the Net is a prime hunting ground when it comes to obtaining financial and personal information from targeted victims.

Using the Internet to shop, indeed using the Internet at all, actually does open you up to rather significant exposure to identity theft. Therefore, you need to make certain that you utilize tools and resources that are designed to provide you with optimum identity theft protection.

Chief amongst the steps that you will want to take when it comes to identity theft protection online is to obtain reliable, reputable and effective anti-spyware software. The fact is that there likely are hundreds of thousands of people lurking on the Net trying to steal your identity and the identity of people just like you through the use of spyware.

Spyware is an aptly named application that allows a person the ability to actually “sneak” into your computer through the Net to collect information about you. A form of spyware is used by reputable online merchants to obtain some basic information about your Internet use and habits. However, those intent on identity theft use more insidious software that actually can effectively collect personal and financial information from you and your computer, including passwords to your accounts.

You need to understand that there are spyware applications that can go so far as to monitor and track your actual keystrokes – a means of collecting your password with relative ease. Spyware applications are very invasive and can be very effective tools when it comes to stealing your personal and financial information.

Understanding these key factors associated with spyware, you definitely want to make sure you have the best possible anti-spyware protection on your computer. Typically, an anti-virus program today will include anti-spyware protection as well. In the end, this type of protection is crucial as part of your overall identity theft protection efforts.



By: Bernard Pragides

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The term “bot” is for robot.  Not the kind of robot you have seen in movies and television shows (does anyone remember ‘Lost In Space’?) or the one at the car assembly plant.  Bots are now one of the most complex types of crimeware on the Internet and therefore a significant tool for identity theft.  Bots are a lot like worms and Trojans, except that they can perform a wide variety of automated tasks on behalf of their master who is usually located far, far away.

Bots can perform nasty tasks like sending spam that can blast a Web site right off the internet when the spam is part of a coordinated “denial of service” attack.  A bot infected computer does the work for its master and that machine is known as a “zombie”.  Bots can enter your computer in several ways.  They are able to search the internet for vulnerable and un-protected (Nawaz, please link to Symantec) computers and inject the infection.  After infecting the machine they immediately report back to their master.

The bots objective now is to stay hidden until their master awakens them and assigns a task.  Bots are so silent that the victim does not know of their existence until the Internet Service Provider notifies you that your computer has been spamming other Internet users.  There are times when the bot will actually clean up an infected computer so that it will not get bumped off the victims machine by another identity thieves bot.  Bots can also infect by being downloaded by a Trojan, installed by a malicious Web site or emailed directly to you from an existing infected computer.

Bots never work alone because they are part of a network of infected computers called a “botnet”.  Botnets are created by identity thieves/attackers who repeatedly infect victim’s computers using one or several of the techniques already mentioned.  Each zombie machine is controlled by a master computer called the command and control server.  The cybercriminals/identity thieves manage their botnets and instruct their army of zombie computers from their command and control centre.  Typically, a botnet is composed of a large number of victimized machines that stretch across the entire planet, from China to the U.S.  Some botnets have a few hundred or few thousand computers; others have tens and even hundreds of thousands of zombies at their command.

 

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



By: Randy Vezina

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Identity theft has become a multi-million dollar crime that affects many people throughout the world. While most people understand how serious this can be, many underestimate how common this problem is and dont realize that they could easily be one of the millions affected. As with all things in life, there is no guarantee that something bad cant happen to a good person but protecting yourself means that you must understand why you and your family need protection, how programs such as LifeLock work, and whether you really need to utilize a program like this at all. This article will explore the issue of identity theft and how the LifeLock program may help to protect you.

While identity theft continues to grow as a crime of choice for many criminals, the exact statistics are hard to pinpoint due to the differing methods that identity thiefs use. 2004 statistics stated that 9.3 million Americans suffered some sort of identity theft. Many identity theft criminals will abuse your personal information until your credit, good name, and social standings are completely destroyed. Even though federal law protects people from having to pay off bills due to fraud, the burden of proof it is up to the victim and clearing everything up after becoming a victim of identity theft can take, on average, 600 hours spread out over several years. To give you an idea of how this crime has escalated, this average of 600 hours is up from 170 hours from only a few years ago. If you become a victim of identity theft, your ability to purchase a home or car, get bank accounts and credit cards, and sometimes your ability to obtain gainful employment can be greatly hindered. While going through the process of restoring their life, an identity theft victim can also expect to spend around $1,500 in out of pocket expenses, not to mention the wage losses they may incur if they are required to take time off from work.

Anti-identity theft programs, such as LifeLock, specialize in preventing identity theft. LifeLock is said to stop junk mail, pre-approved credit card offers, and takes a proactive stance versus the normal reactive method that they claim most companies use. LifeLock states that its program will contact you before your credit is tarnished while most other programs only contact you after the fact. The LifeLock program takes steps so that your credit and personal identification is continuously monitored meaning that you are notified whenever there is any suspicious activity with your credit, social security number, and bank accounts. One problem with this method is that you, as well as thieves, may find it difficult to secure credit but LifeLock states that this is necessary to protect your credit and that they will be available to speak with any creditor you are having difficulties with.

With all these claims, you may be wondering how the LifeLock anti-identity theft program works. LifeLock states that it will contact the four major credit bureaus and submit a 90 day fraud alert in your name which means that nobody, including you, will be able to obtain credit without sending an alert. When someone sets up a fraud alert with a credit reporting agency, the alert will automatically expire in 90 days but LifeLock states that it will automatically renew the alert before it expires and you will be continuously protected. LifeLock also provides you a copy of your credit report four times a year and monitors for any new bank accounts set up in your name. If you fully understand the dangers of identity theft and realize that you could be a victim, you may well be wondering how to join such a program and if you really need to.

Joining LifeLock requires no contract so you may cancel at any time if you are not completely satisfied. This program appears to be relatively inexpensive at $10 a month or $100 per year for adults and $25 a year for your children. You may be wondering why you would want to register your children with LifeLock but the fact of the matter is that children under 18 are great targets for identity theft thieves because nearly any child living in the United States has a social security number that an identity theft thief can steal and any suspicious activity will normally not be caught until the child reaches the age of 18. You may be wondering if a program such as LifeLock is really necessary or if you can take steps on your own to protect yourself. The truth is that you can do all of the things that LifeLock does on your own for free but doing so will eat up your resources, time, and leave you wondering if the steps you took will be effective. LifeLock claims that it offers a service of convenience, eliminating the hassle of you dealing with the details, and eliminating the stress of not knowing if you are truly safe. LifeLock also offers the advantage of acting in your behalf or hiring someone to represent you if the program fails and you actually do become a victim of identity theft.

If the thought of having your identity stolen concerns you, as it should, then you should take steps to reduce the probability of it happening. Whether you decide to take care of this on your own or obtain the service of an anti-identity theft program is up to you but reviews indicate that the LifeLock program does work and has helped a lot of people. Whatever you decide, please take some type of action to protect yourself because identity theft continues to grow and is indeed a huge problem that may very well affect you sometime in the future.

By: Rick Churchill

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There is a lot of advise on how to avoid identity theft. Shred your mail. Don’t give personal or private information over the phone. Check the mail every day and stop mail delivery when out of town. Keep all documents safe and secure. Do this, do that, watch out, jump over this bar, duck under this bar, snake through this hoop and cross fingers and prey like heck. These are good procedures to follow. They just won’t help when the government leaves millions of records unsecured, or AOL releases millions of personal searches, or a business is hacked and it’s databases are compromised. Go to Google News and do a search on “identity theft”. Read the stories. There are hundreds, thousands and sometime millions of identities compromised every day. It is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when virtually every personal identity will be compromised.

There are three primary steps everyone should take in protecting their identity.

Number one is monitor your credit. Identity theft almost always begins with your credit. It is where you are most likely going to be targeted by criminal activity. It is the easiest way to compromise an identity too.

Number two is 24×7 access to legal counsel. Identity theft and the laws and government protections are complicated. If you are compromised you will need legal assistance in every state where your identity was fraudulently used. Also, who do victims call in the middle of the night when they’ve been arrested on a warrant for a crime they didn’t commit? The brother-in-law or best friend that is an attorney can help you with the occasional speeding ticket, but would be useless if your identity were stolen. Seriously, just ask them yourself. With the right plan and company, this is a very affordable service for all people. What is critical is that you get more then just monitoring and absolutely do not waist money on identity theft insurance. More on this later.

Three, you need identity restoration services. Just read the stories on the net about how lives have been ruined by identity theft. Once an identity is stolen it could take the average individual year, even a lifetime to restore their own good name. It would mean hundreds of hours stolen from the victim too. Hours stolen from work and the family. Having a profession service that specializes in identity restoration is imperative. The best companies can restore and identity in as little as a few months, and most of this time is caused by the bureaucracies they deal with. Bureaucracies that you would have to deal with if they weren’t.

Identity theft insurance is practically worthless. Most of these policies give money to the victim so they can fix the problems themselves. Hopefully, it’s already painfully clear that an individual can’t fix this problem on their own. Identity protection and restoration needs to be handled by professionals. Please don’t wait to get covered.

One great solution to identity theft protection is Identity Theft Shield from Kroll Background America and Pre-Paid Legal Services.

By: Frank Brammer

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Today, Identity fraud has become one of the most common thefts of the decade – It has been featured in different kinds of magazines and Television shows. It seems like each year the amount of cases being published increase drastically.

In America alone, over 27 million cases are being filed each year and it is still constantly increasing. It is also due to the fact that slowly most of the purchases are done through information – usually credit cards are the ones with high risk, since if they know all about your personal information they can easily use your card to purchase over the internet.

Now, in order to prevent Identity fraud I have listed the essential things you can do to prevent this from happening to you and your family. Keep in mind that if you follow these things you will prevent identity theft at least 90% of the time. So please take note of the information I am about to share with you.

1. Information Awareness

Now this is very essential, you should be extremely wary of the amount of information you are giving away to the public. It can be on the internet or hard copies of your identification documents.

So in order to be aware of the situation you just have to limit the amount of information you give out, especially on the internet. Don’t publish all of your information online.

Another thing is you should not allow anyone to copy or borrow your identification documents without proper reason.

Plus, always deal business with an official sanction of a company – Do not try to deal with individuals that don’t seem to have any official identifications, you can also check the person by calling up the company.

Shred any financial papers you receive before disposing of them in the trash. This includes any solicitation notices that you may receive for any credit cards or mail from other financial institutions.

Lastly, don’t bring your Social Security Card (or Identification number) with you unless it’s absolutely important.

2. Report Odd Credit Information

This is an extremely important part of preventing identity fraud. Most of the time, people who are involved in the cases think that they could be subjected to identity fraud problems, unfortunately they don’t follow their gut instinct to check.

The telltale signs are monthly expenses that show up in your credit card payment but they don’t provide any form of billing and check your credit card transactions to make sure that all transactions are made by you and if there is a discrepancy, immediately call the company to stop any fraud from continuing further.

And lastly, check your credit report at least once a year to make sure your information (and credit standing) is correct.

That’s why it is essential that you exercise these tips and relate them to your friends and family to prevent any of identity theft/fraud problem in the future.



By: Bernard Pragides

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You may not be aware of the boom in the crime of identity theft but it is a crime that continues to increase, especially as many people become less careful with their personal information and who they are willing to give it to. Just as an example, almost 8 million people were victims of identity theft of some form during 2006.

It is hard to understand why there is such a major increase in this type of crime, which is a crime that barely existed only 10 to 15 years ago. Yes, there were fraud cases back at that time, but not nearly to the extent nor the sophistication that today’s identity theft crimes display.

Much of the reason, it must be assumed, is due to the Internet boom and how there are literally millions more people online every day than there were several years ago. But this is NOT to say that the Internet or the information technology craze is a bad thing, not at all. What it does mean, however, that it is easier than ever for people to share personal information online. There is no personal interaction required to type information into a web form or via instant messenger or via email, when in reality, you do not know for 100% sure exactly WHO is receiving the information you are transmitting into cyberspace. You may THINK it’s your bank asking you to verify your information or this great new friend you met in a forum that teaches Sunday school, but do you really know?

For the most part, most consumers are unaware of what information they are NOT required to divulge. People who are relatively new to the Internet and email do not realize that their bank or credit card company would NEVER ask them to verify personal information online, yet thousands of people fall victim to email scams every year by doing so because the email looks so “official”. What they don’t realize is that almost any 12 year old worth his salt can create an “official looking” email that probably would look better than one the real bank or credit card company would send out themselves!

Never give out your personal information, account information or PIN codes via an online form or to a telemarketer over the phone. Even if you don’t have doubts about the identity of the person calling, be cautious anyway and YOU initiate the call to the bank or credit card company so you know who you are calling.

Invest in a paper shredder, which are less than $40 at almost any office supply store. And with those credit card offers you get in the mail every week? Shred them. If you are like most people and simply tear it in half and throw it in the trash, this becomes gold for the identity thieves who regularly engage in “dumpster diving” to piece back together such offers so they can steal your identity.

Protect your identity and your personal information. It may be a bit more trouble than you are used to taking, but if your identity is stolen, you will spend weeks, month, and even years trying to get things straightened back out.



By: Jon Arnold

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There are thieves everywhere and the Internet has its fair share of bandits of all types. The most frightening and potentially dangerous thief is the identity thief. An identity thief can go beyond stealing the contents of your bank accounts or running up debts on your credit card. Identity theft can result in you being pursued for debts incurred in your name by the thief, being blacklisted by credit reference agencies and even being arrested on criminal charges. By taking a few simple precautions, you can ensure your identity is safe online. The following are seven effective tips for password protection online.

Password Protection Tips

1. Do not use the same password for everything. There are many people who use one password for everything because they would have trouble remembering numerous passwords and can’t be bothered to write them all down. If you use the same password for everything and a thief gets hold of it, he has access to every online facility you use. If a crook gets hold of your personal details for any program, one of his first actions will be to check to find out if you have a PayPal account where you use the same password.

2. Do not use any words to be found in the dictionary as passwords. Passwords should be a meaningless mixture of letters, numbers and (if the login permits) symbols. Thieves use software programs that can identify dictionary words when they are used as passwords.

3. Do not use obvious things for identity confirmation. Your date of birth, mother’s maiden name, father’s middle name etc are matters of record that are available to thieves. Choose a more obscure option such as your favourite color or the name of your first school. If a program gives you no choice and you have to provide your mother’s maiden name, don’t give the real one, make one up (and use a different one for each program requiring this information) but make sure you don’t forget the names you invent.

4. Never click a link in any email asking you to update personal information. Any email asking you to do this will be a “phishing” email from thieves trying to get hold of your personal details. If a genuine company needs you to confirm anything, it will ask you to log into your account, it will not ask you to click through via a “special” link.

5. Never tell anyone else your password. No legitimate company will ever ask you to give them your password.

6. Use a software program to store your passwords on your PC. The Mozilla Firefox toolbar will save your login passwords for you and enable you to log in to programs with just one mouse click. Roboform will do the same thing. It will also record the url of sites you log in at and recognize any attempt at phishing. Roboform also has a function to generate completely random passwords for any program you use. The “portable” version of Roboform can be plugged into any pc, thereby enabling you to use your passwords without fear of theft by keystroke loggers.

7. Change your passwords regularly, being sure to use brand new passwords, not recycled ones from a month or two ago. This way the damage will be limited if a thief gets access to a database containing your details.

Identity thieves are everywhere. They are happy to rummage through your garbage in the hope of finding a copy of your bank statement or a discarded utility bill. Compared to that dirty work, stealing your identity via a password you use on the Internet is a pleasant option. It is up to you to make sure the pleasant option is not an easy option for the thieves.



By: Elaine Currie

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