Taking Identity Theft Seriously - Preventing Tips

By: Landon McGehee

It's hard to even imagine how we did so many things before the internet. The internet developed and expanded so quickly. It is not a major service, research, commerce, and communication hub. You can do you banking, trade stocks, buy groceries, pay bills, even buy a car or a home, right from your computer desk.

There are risks involved with doing these things though. Identity theft is the main risk you need to watch out for. You must make sure all of your financial data is kept private. The information below will tell you more about identity theft and how to protect yourself.

In 2005, 9.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft. It is a serious threat that can be very detrimental to your credit.

Some companies saw the need for protection, so they off services to protect your ID. There are free and effective ways to protect yourself as well.

The following 10 tips should help.

Only Make Purchases On Trusted Sites

If you've never heard of a website, a deal seems too good to be true, or something just doesn't seem quite right, you shouldn't put your information into these sites. They may not be secure sites, so people can get to your information from them. To stay safe, you should either use well known retailers, or small companies that use Paypal or Google Checkout to complete purchases. To verify that a page is safe, look for the padlock symbol on the bottom of your browser.

Order Your Credit Report

You can get a free copy of your credit report each year from AnnualCreditReport.com. You should do this each year to make sure nobody has opened accounts under your name.

Know How to Spot Phishing Identity thieves can pretend to be a trustworthy site, hoping you put in your information. They can pretend to be your bank to get your bank information, for example. To help protect yourself, watch out if it asks more information than normal such as your Social Security number or address, and check to make sure the website address is correct.

Secure Your Network

Secure your wireless network if you have one. If people can access your network, they can hack into your information. It is not hard to lock your router and encrypt your information.

Can the Spam

Spam can be from phishers or contain viruses. Always use spam filters and don't open suspicious email messages.

Don't Store Sensitive Information on Non-Secure Websites

Do not put important information on unsecured sites like google calendars, myspace or facebook. It's ok to use these sites, just make sure you don't put sensitive data such as account numbers or passwords on them.

Set Banking Alerts

You can set up your account to give automatic alerts for large transactions, being near overdraft, etc. This can help make sure your account is not being illegally used.

Don't Reuse Passwords

It may seem like a hassle, but you should really use different passwords for each account that you have online. If someone does learn one password, it would be unfortunate for you if they could access every account of yours.

Use Optional Security Questions

It is a good idea to use multiple security questions to identify access to personal information on accounts to make it less likely that intruders can know or guess answers. The answers to the questions shouldn't be things that can be found in public records. The answers should be things only you should know.

Don't Put Private Information on Public Computers

Don't save any passwords on public computers. You should also completely log out of any accounts on public computers.

Taking Identity Theft Seriously

It's easy to think Identity theft will never happen to youbut it certainly could if you're not careful. Following these steps will reduce the chances of you being one of the millions of people per year who's identity is stolen.