Identity theft is not inevitable; you can avoid it with care

The discussion of theft of identity continues to be a popular one, as a large number of news stories of security breaches at mortgage companies appear in the morning paper. Your credit report is wrecked, the credit card companies want you to repay debts you may not even be aware of, and it can take years to resolve the mess to the satisfaction of all parties. Criminals spend your cash as they choose, knowing that the bills will ultimately be your responsibility. It often takes a year or longer to notice this situation, and in the meantime, the thief can amass thousands of dollars worth of bills in your name. Theft of identity occurs when someone you do not know makes use of your personal identification, such as a Social Security number, to pose as you so that they may obtain a credit card loan or a bank loan.

There are many things that can be done to help preclude this practice, and we have discussed several of them on other pages. Listed below are a few additional things that you can do to prevent becoming an identity theft victim:

• When ordering checks, have as little personal information as possible printed on them. If you write a check at a shop and they legitimately request personal information, you only need to provide it. You do not need to provide your phone or driver's license number. Otherwise, nobody else requires it. Leave it off. Buy a paper shredder and shred all unneeded documents. Destroy unwanted or unnecessary home loan advertisements, in addition to any other information you no longer need. Destroy any and all of those credit card offers you get in the mailbox and don't need. Thieves will sort through your garbage, and all they need to do to acquire a credit card is provide a signature in your name.

• The only result that can come from carrying infrequently-used identification is a bad one. Do not keep your Social Security card or any seldom-used credit cards in your wallet. Identification cards that you rarely use are best left at home.
• Be cautious when doing business on the phone. Do not provide your Social Security number, credit card number, or any other personal information to someone who calls you via the phone. If you are uncertain as to whom you are talking, simply end the call and contact the bank or whomever they say they are on your own. Your bank will not call asking for personal information; they have it already.
• Be careful when doing business online. Numbers that look like letters are excellent, use a zero instead of the letter "O", for example. Avoid using simple passwords when banking or conducting any financial transactions on the Internet. Good safe passwords for online transactions combine a mixture of capital and lower case characters or a mixture of letters and other characters. Passwords of greater than eight symbols are quite effective at deterring identity thieves. Computer hackers can use "brute force" password attacks that run through every word in the dictionary and passwords like that are easily broken. Stay away from the common trick of using your pet's name, the name of your favorite sports team, or the names of your kids for your password.

Be careful, and be cautious. These are the keys to protecting your financial assets.