Preventing Identity Theft

Internet banking is a piece of cake for all those who know how to handle it. Free online bill-payment, the 'next day’ bank to bank funds transfer and much more, are some of its features that make your life so much easier. But, with this bliss you may also invite a serious trouble.

One would only need two pieces of your personal information to impersonate you: your date of birth (DOB) and your Social Security Number (SSN). Technically, these are the keys to your bank accounts, credit files, credit cards, health information and everything. No matter how fool proof banking might be these days you are ALWAYS at a risk of being a victim of Identity theft. Please follow the simple steps below to prevent your Identity Theft: How to Prevent Identity Theft

Step 1

Avoid writing personal checks to people you don’t know. Give a money order, a bank draft or cash instead. Nowadays it is very easy to pull funds from anyone's bank account via online rout. Even if you never signed up for an online banking, anybody can pull funds from your account through the internet. All one needs is your bank account number and the bank routing number plus your name; all this information is written on the personal checks that you write.

Step 2

Before dumping your bank statements to garbage know this: hackers don’t have access to your office or bed rooms, they search your trash cans for vital information and many times they are successful. So buy a shredder. Destroy fully your statements before putting them in a trash cans.

Step 3

Sign up for 'online statements only'. Most of banks mail bank statements via a regular mail. There is no guarantee it would not be opened by another person. it has most of your banking information.

Step 4

We often receive credit card promotional checks in mail. These are the easiest checks to cash. They don’t even need your signatures. Remember, unlike checking accounts, majority of the creditors do not have your signature on files for comparison. Call your creditors to stop sending such checks to you.

Step 5

Destroy your 'expired' credit and debit cards. Know that the creditors do not change the number on your credit cards when they mail out the new ones. The only thing that changes is the expiration date. No doubt an expired card cannot complete the transaction if swiped, but, to make an online purchase all you need is the card number and the name of the card holder. Many sites neither ask for the CV code (found at the back of the card) nor are they very particular about the accuracy of the expiration date. Therefore, all the information required to make an online purchase is present on your expired cards.

Step 6

Be sure to sign the back of your credit or debit cards. It's a good idea to put a piece of transparent tape over the signature so that it cannot be tampered. A store cashier sometimes compares the signature of the holder with the one present on the signature panel of the card, especially when a big purchase is made. If you have not signed the back of your card you are risking an unauthorized use. Anyone who possesses your card can misuse it because there is no signature to compare.

Step 7

Pre-approved credit offer letters are as dangerous as the bank and credit card statements. Its easy for an identity thief to draw credit in your name using those pre-approved offers. Such offer letters should be handled in the same way as your other financial statements. Also, I recommend to call the toll free number printed on such offer letters to opt out of receiving them in future.

Step 8

Avoid using public computers, such as in public libraries, work places, ‘hotspots’, for accessing your bank accounts, credit cards, applying for credit cards online. User IDs and pass words are stored in computers as cookies. They are easily accessible to hackers. Even if you do use public computers make sure you clear the stored cookies after you logout. Here is how you can do it: go to ‘tools’ tab. click on ‘internet options’ then from the window that will open up click 'delete cookies', then, 'delete files’ (make sure you check 'delete all off-line content' in the prompt window) and finally 'delete history'. However, many public computers have disabled access to ‘internet options’ unless you are logged in as administrator. So it is advisable to check if you would be able to access internet options in tools menu prior to logging in to your bank accounts at public computers.

Step 9

Shut of your home computer when not in use. At least put it to 'sleep' mode. Open connected computer is an open book for hackers in cyber space to access. They can retrieve all your cookies (pass words, user ids etc). Many times while surfing internet small windows pop up prompting you to either cancel or OK an action. Many times even if you click 'cancel' some small software gets installed into your computer that hooks a hacker sitting elsewhere to your computer. He gets instant access to your files, pass words etc. Check your computer frequently for such installed programs. Here is how to do it: go to ‘control panel’. Click on 'install-uninstall programs' from the window that opens up you will be able to see list of all the programs that are installed in your computer. If you do not recognize any program it is safe to uninstall it by clicking on the program once and then clicking on the 'uninstall' tab.

Tips & Warnings

• Sign up to Receive Free Credit Alerts From Equifax. Please read my article 'How to Receive Free Credit Alerts From Equifax'
• Monitor all your bank and credit accounts by single login by signing up for 'My portfolio' services. Many banks offer such services through their online banking. Please read my article 'How to Access Multiple Bank and Credit Accounts by Single Login'.
• If you have a WAMU credit card you would be able to track your FICO credit scores on a monthly basis for free. Please click on the link below to read my article 'How to get a Free Monthly Credit Scores'