Advice for Identity Theft Protection Information

The first thing you should do to protect against identity theft is to keep good records of the confidential information that you have.  You should take all your insurance cards, ATM cards, credit cards, passports and similar documents, and copy both sides of them, and then store them in a safe place.  

When ordering checks, never put your social security number on it.  Additionally, you can use your work number rather than your home phone number, you can use a PO Box rather than your address, and use initials rather than first and middle names on your checks.

Never discard electronic media without first completely destroying it.  This means using a file shredder for pc computers, using a quality crosscut paper shredder for all private documents, and using a cd/dvd disk shredder for all disks with any vital information.

Furthermore, using cash for all those small purchases is a good idea.  Ever person that handles your credit card has a chance to steal your credit information.  Likewise, ever time you have to flash your ID, you are opening up yourself to theft.  Most people are trustworthy, but it only takes one to cause you months of grief.

Lastly, don't fall prey to computer schemes to steal your information.  the most common method is phishing.  The identity thieves send you an email from what looks to be a merchant or service with whom you are subscribing like Paypal or your internet provider.  They hope that out of the many emails they send, they get a few people to respond.  Don't find yourself caught by these phishers.  The other major scam that is growing is to steal your credit card information by using special programs to register your keystrokes as you type in your credit card numbers.  You should have anti-spyware installed on your pc, which can be downloaded for free at sites like download.com

Being vigilant now, can save you hours of headaches in the future.  Studying identity theft protection information is worthless if you do not act upon it.