Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
Identity theft is defined as another person or group of people that steal your personal and financial information in order to commit a crime or fraud. There are many ways in which a criminal or organization can collect your identity information and use it in a fraudulent manner; understanding how your identity information is obtained can help you to protect yourself from most types of identity theft crimes. Here are some tips.
Common ways in which your identity information can be obtained is through common acts of theft such as your wallet or purse being stolen, Stealing mail out of your mail box that might contain special financial information such as account numbers and name and address info, looking through your trash for important documents and information, and acquiring it through email.
Common Theft
If your wallet or purse has become lost or stolen, it is extremely important to contact your credit card companies, credit reporting agencies and to make a police report. It might take a few minutes for your credit cards to be used or a few months for other types of identity theft and fraud to occur with the information that is found in your wallet or purse. While it is impractical not to carry your important credit cards with you, if you are robbed, make sure you have a plan of action to notify the proper authorities in a quick and orderly manner.
Shred Your Documents
Theft such as important documents from your garbage does occur. Many laws do allow others to sift through your garbage and you will be surprised how easy it is to determine a person’s identity and financial information from the documents that one throws away. If you are planning on throwing away documents with personal or financial information, make sure you first shred it before tossing it in the garbage; this will greatly reduce any incidence of identity theft through the garbage.
Email and Phishing Scams
Email and phishing scams are quite frequent and are a major source of identity fraud. Here is a tip to protect yourself from the vast majority of identity theft on the web. If any entity through an email or web site requests personal information or financial information from you, do not directly input your information. Instead contact the entity directly to make sure they are the ones that are legitimately requesting your personal or financial information.
For instance, if an email requests you to click a link and enter your personal or financial information, simply close the email and visit the source of the request (i.e. the bank or company web site). Usually there will be a message waiting for you to input specific information. If not contact the company directly to find out if they require any information from you.
Connie Barker
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/protect-yourself-from-identity-theft-95005.html
How many times do you tear in half junkmail credit card applications to protect yourself from identity theft?
Assume you have some junkmail you wish to dispose of which has you name and address printed on it but you don't have a shredder available. If it was an A4 size application form, how many times would your tear it in two before putting it in the bin?
I USUALLY RUN THEM THREW A SHREDDER THEN BURN THEM IN A SMALL METAL CAN IN MY BACK YARD.
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about 3 or 4
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Shred.
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enough times that there is no way to piece it back together and make any sense out of it.
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Can U burn it in the sink?
It'll B safer than tearing it up straight in2 the bin.
Do a lil at a time, U have a tap 2 switch on should it start looking a bit iffy.
It's what I would do If I didn't have a shredder.
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I rip the envelope in half (I don't even open it) and put in my kitchen trash can every time.
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I do it all the time…like you, i am afraid someone will steal my identity….Ive seen it happen to a couple friends.
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Never. Considering those companies now have a phone number so it can be called in, I find the offending portions and burn them
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I have a shredder in my house.
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buy a shreader. You will want a cross cut. They cost a bit more, but worth it
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Kinda hard to assume you don't have a shredder when you have one, but I'll try…. next time this comes up.
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This is funny, because I've done that for years. I usually tear it twice: down the middle, then across.
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We have a shredder now, but when we didn't I cut them up a lot with the scissors. You want to make it too hard to piece together. Obviously someone can't tape one together and send if off to get the credit card, but they can get your personal information off of it and use that to try and get other cards. Most people are too lazy to sit and put together something that is in many, many pieces. My husband has made it a policy to shred everything that has our name and address on it. That's probably a little extreme, but I guess it can't hurt.
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I never shred or tear anything. I don't even own a shredder. If someone wants my identity they can have it.
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I write "no" in CAPs and "remove from mail listing" on the application. I then take all the papers that I received with the application including the envelope addressed to me and put it in the prepaid return envelope and send it back to them. My satisfaction is knowing it cost them extra money for postage when I return it. Just think if everyone did it, it would double there postage costs.
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I have always tore mine in half. But do realize that druggies will take all those pieces of paper and sit and put them back together so they can use them to get your personal information. the drug makes them able to sit and concentrate and put this back together. They are also driven by the desire for more drugs. So I would purchase a shredder that cuts it into little bits both ways if you wanted to be absolutely sure.
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I'd fold it in half first and then tear it four times. However, most of those junk mail form things are already folded in three or four to fit in the prepared envelope in which case I would simply tear it four times. If the pieces are getting thick for the fourth tear just overlap the edges slightly. Don't line the edges up and you'll only have to tear through at one time as thick as you did for the previous tear.
The pieces end up quite small and if anyone sees trash which is well ripped like that, they'll surely look for easier targets. If you are used to tearing stuff up this is very quick to do.
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I use a crosscut shredder.
http://www.getprotectedhere.com
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