Thought2Action LLC ®

By incorporating simple habits into your lifestyle, you can prevent identity thieves from stealing personal information included in paper documents, then using it to ruin your good name and devastate your finances.

SCRUTINIZE. Check the billing statements from ALL your accounts routinely: utilities, credit cards, home mortgage, retail accounts, cell phone and land lines, investments, EVERYTHING. This may seem tedious, but it's the best way you can detect identity theft early.

To make it easier, make an appointment with yourself - mark it on your calendar - to spend an hour or so once a month reviewing your statements carefully, whether they're online or on paper.

SHRED. To thwart an identity thief who may pick through your trash or recycling bins to capture your personal or business information, always shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks and bank statements, expired charge cards that you're discarding, and credit offers you get in the mail. What identity thieves are looking for:

• Pre-approved credit card offers – to complete the application and have "your" card sent to them at another address
• Loan applications – to complete the application and have money sent to a phony address
• Bank statements – to steal your bank account numbers. Thieves create bogus checks.
• Checks – to create duplicate checks
• Company documents – to take advantage of company assets

STOP. You have probably received many offers of "instant" credit in the mail. Each of these offers, if discarded, contains enough information to help an identity thief get started on stealing your identity. SHRED each offer before throwing it away. To opt out of receiving prescreened offers of credit in the mail, call: 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688). Note: You will be asked to provide your Social Security number which the consumer reporting companies need to match you with your file.

SECURE. Some items you send in the mail contain personal information, and identity thieves are not hesitant to open mail that hangs from your door mail slot or sits in your mail box. Deposit your outgoing mail containing personally identifying information in post office collection boxes or at your local post office rather than in an unsecured mailbox.

On mail delivery days, promptly remove mail from your mailbox, or have a trusted friend do it for you.

If you're planning to be away from home and can't pick up your mail, contact the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 or online at www.usps.gov, to request a vacation hold. The Postal Service will hold your mail at your local post office until you can pick it up or are home to receive it.

Share your stories about identity theft and tips about identity theft prevention here.

In previous articles, Thought2Action has provided information about how to prevent identity theft online, featuring tips for email, online shopping, and protecting your computer against spyware and phishing. This article adds social networking and mobile devices to the mix:

Social Networking

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and other social networking sites make it easy and fun to stay in touch with family, friends, and business contacts, but there are risks associated with any site that you use to post personal information, pictures, video, and web links. Use these guidelines to help protect your privacy and security:

•Learn about and use the privacy settings on each social networking site on which you have an account. They help you control what information others can see and potentially use against you.

•Use your best judgment when posting anything online. Once you click "post" or "send," whatever you post is online for all time. Think of social networking as building your personal brand; anything you post should support that brand in a positive, constructive way.

•Choose wisely what personal information you share. Cyber hackers can put together bits of information from different sites to steal your identity, access your data, or stalk you.

•Protect your computer hardware. Use antivirus software, antispyware software, and a firewall to protect the data on your home computer.

•Learn how to manage your online "friends." It's fun to have a long list of friends on your site, from school, work, and your hometown. Understand, though, that the longer your list, the more vulnerable your personal information. You may want to set up multiple accounts, saving one for information you would share only with your closest friends.

•Take care opening links. Even when they seem to come from friends, some links contain malware that will phish your personal information. If you are suspicious, contact the friend who seemed to send the link first.

•Know how to take action. Learn each site's tools for reporting spam, blocking "friends" who become offensive, and removing suspicious friends and posts.

•Protect your account with a strong password. A strong password typically contains more than six characters with a mix of capital letters, punctuation marks, and numbers.

Mobile Devices

•Be as careful using your smart phone or other mobile device as you would using your personal computer. Its portability makes it easy to lose, putting your personal information at risk.

•Give your mobile number only to people you know and trust, and only text or call people and businesses that you know in real life.

•Do not reply to messages from people you don't know.

•Learn how to block unwanted callers and "ignore" calls from people and businesses you do no recognize.

•Before sending a text message - like any email message - think about how the reader will interpret it. Once you send it, you can't take it back.

•Do not give out anyone else's mobile device number without permission.

•Do not take pictures or video of others without their permission, and do not allow others to take pictures or videos of you without your permission. Pictures and video are easy to post on the internet, and they remain online in some form forever.

•Take care if you decide to meet someone you "know" only through online texting or chatting. Just because you have communicated for a while doesn't mean you are completely safe with them.

•Record and keep in a safe place your Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and/or your International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. You can find your IMEI number by pressing *#06# on your mobile phone's keypad, it will display a 15 digit number - that is your IMEI number.

•If your phone is lost or stolen, report it to your local police and your network operator immediately.

For more information on Cyber Security Awareness, visit Stay Safe Online.