Jaynine Howard asked:




As we start the New Year, many unscrupulous individuals will start their new year with a new identity. Will he or she be stealing your identity?

Business owners must take steps to protect their identity and their employee’s identity. You never know who is going to snoop through your trash. What may seem like nothing to you can be used to steal your identity or your employees’ identity.

As we begin 2010, I encourage you to take five steps to protect your identity.

1. Shred or burn documents that contain your name, business name, address, and other vital information such as date of birth. This includes but is not limited to junk mail, magazine renewal notices, and bank statements. I highly suggest you cut or rip the address label off catalogs before you throw them away. Also, if your catalogs contain offers for free credit with that catalog I suggest you rip that out offer of the catalog and shred it too.

2. Change your passwords. I know this may seem like a real pain but I bet your children, spouse and friends can figure out your current passwords. Take a few minutes and change your passwords. Also, do not automatically store your passwords on each account on your computer. If someone broke into your business or hacked into your computer you would be granting them easy access to your bank accounts and other private areas. When you fire an employee or an employee quits you will want to change your passwords on your accounts. Business owners must remember that the business computer contains a great deal of intellectual property that when in the wrong hands could sabotage your competitive business edge.

3. Protect your social security number. Do you have your social security card in your wallet? Is it in your glove box of your car? If you have a teenager in the house or someone who has been job hunting I guarantee they are carrying their social security card in their wallet or leaving it in the car so they have it handy to show employers. Do you still have your social security number printed on your checks? This was the rage when I was younger and it took friends pointing out to me that times had changed and I needed to remove it from my checks. Do not give your social security number to someone over the telephone. Request that they provide you written documentation before you release it. As a business owner review your procedures for safeguarding your employee’s social security numbers.

4. Keep your credit card receipts and ATM statements until you get home or return to the office and can shred it. Again, you may not know what to do with the information on those receipts but identity thieves do. Don’t forget to ask your employees to provide you all the receipts if they are doing your banking and running errands. This includes the gas station receipt that is often left in the gas pump. Grab it and take it with you. Do not toss it in the trash can by the gas pump.

5. Check your credit report at least yearly. Look for accounts that you did not open. An identity thief may have a bill sent to their address so you will never know about the account unless you review your credit report. You will want to check your children’s credit report too. It is also important to know what you will do and have a plan in place or at least in your mind on how you will handle an identity thief that is a trusted employee or family member. I have had several friends tell me about family members that stole their identity or their child’s identity yet they didn’t want to press charges and cause a riff in the family. Spend a few minutes and think about what you would do.

Identity thieves do not just steal from people they steal from business owners. Start your year out right by taking measures to safeguard your identity and your business identity.

Jon Arnold asked:




It seems as if every time you turn on the TV news these days, there is some story at least once or twice a week about some new identity theft scam. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this decade and if you have not taken pro-active steps to protect your identify, it is not a matter of “if” it will happen to you, but “when”.

First let’s review what happens in an identify theft crime. A thief gets enough of your personal information to be able to open accounts in your name. It’s really as simple as that. Such information would include items that would normally be used to open a new account somewhere such as your social security number, your driver’s license number, and with some accounts, even less information may be required, as surprising as that sounds. Once the thief has opened the new accounts such as Visa cards, department store cards, even personal loans, the thief gets as much money as he can on those accounts, then disappears into the sunset. The first time you are aware that your identity has been compromised is when you get a phone call from one or more of the accounts inquiring as to your plans for your very high and very past due balance on an account that you didn’t even know you had.

Some people claim that modern technology is to blame for the growing problem of identity theft crimes, but that is simply a knee-jerk reaction. Modern technology is not the cause of the problem, although it does make unsuspecting people more vulnerable to identity theft. Many people, particularly seniors, when they go online and get an email supposedly from their bank asking them to “verify their information due to a possible security breach” think they are doing the right thing by clicking on the provided link and verifying their information. But what they do not realize is that their bank never sent such an email, and even if they did, would not request information to be verified online. That email was originated by somebody trying to steal their identity, and this email scam is typically known as “phishing”.

Does the knowledge that one should NEVER respond to such an email from someone who claims to represent your bank or credit union’s fraud department, come automatically? Unfortunately not. Many people are not tech-savvy enough to realize that a bank or credit union or other financial institution would never ask you to verify your personal information online. But for unsuspecting people, such an email, complete with the graphic logo of their bank, think the email is official and fall prey to such email schemes. Creating a fake email that looks very official is something that even most fifth graders could do today.

Your best protection against identity theft is good old common sense. Whenever anyone asks you for very personal and sensitive information such as your social security number or even your date of birth, the red flags and alarms should start sounding in your head. Why do they need this information and what will they do with it? Especially safeguard your PIN code for your ATM card or credit cards, since there is no valid reason on the face of the earth why you would have to give that to someone. If someone allegedly works for the bank, then they already have access to that information and you do not need to give it to them.

Again, just use common sense. The problem is not with the Internet, it is not a problem with technology, the real problem is that people are too willing to divulge personal information to people who have no business asking for it. Keep your guard up and take precautions to make sure you are not the next victim of identity theft being featured in the evening news!

David Kamau asked:




Identity theft, or simply ID theft, is the fastest growing crime in America. The reason is simple; it pays and often the criminals off with light sentences. This article offers ways to prevent identity theft.

You should also know that that there are different forms of identity theft. Some of these are as follows:

1. Full identity theft: someone steals your data and then goes on to live as you. He/she will pose or disguise his/herself as you, obtain an identification documents and then clean you out – that is bank account, credit lines etc.

2. Credit hijacking: The thief will simply use your name and good credit to open new credit lines and then go on spending sprees, of course, without paying the bills. You only realize when you either get denied credit, get a call from your bank or some other bank or creditor, or receive a bill you have no idea about.

3. Synthetic identity theft: This involves using bits and pieces of personal information from several victims to create a whole new identity. This is perhaps the most difficult form of ID theft to detect.

There are the obvious precautions anyone can take and often offered as preventive ways. These will probably stop a petty thief, but the modern ID thief is much more sophisticated.

These mundane identity theft prevention ways include advice such as “shred your documents”, “don’t carry your social security card in your wallet”, and “don’t throw documents in the trash” and the like. Good measures, but the sophisticated thief would laugh at these.

You can stop most ID thieves on their tracks by placing a fraud alert on your credit file with the three major credit bureaus. Unlike credit monitoring, which alerts you after the fact, with a fraud alert you get contacted before any new credit lines are opened.

A fraud alert is only good for three months. After three months, you have to renew it, which the bureaus are not enthusiastic to do as they make money by selling your information to third parties for marketing purposes (which they cannot do if you have a fraud alert on your file).

You should also invest in a good antivirus and spyware remover for your computer. Keystroke loggers can get downloaded into your system, without you realizing it. Keystroke loggers track everything typed into a computer and then report back to the scammer via the Internet.

Greg Shuey asked:




The best identity theft protection can be hard to find and incorporate into your daily habits. Identity theft is becoming a crime of choice these days because it is so easy to get away with. It is approximated that over 7 million individuals fell victim to identity theft last year and this year is supposed to reach close to 10 million. Scary huh?

The good think is, you have a few options when it comes to protecting yourself from becoming an identity theft victim. Most of the thing that can, and will protect you, have to be done by you all the time. There are also services you can purchase that do a lot of the work of protecting your identity for you. No matter what, to get the best identity theft protection, you need to do some things yourself.

Here are a few things you can and need to start doing today.

You need to watch your mail like a hawk. Mail is one of the easiest ways for a thief to get a hold of your personal information. All they need to do is get a bank statement, medical bill, credit card bill, or others and your identity is toast. They can also steal other things out of your mail like money and items purchased over the internet or phone and are mailed to you.

Have you ever shredded your personal documents that you don’t want to keep around the house? How about those pesky credit card offers that you get in the mail every day? If you are already in the habit of tossing those in the mail, you are giving a dumpster diver the perfect opportunity to find and steal a new identity for him or herself. Go out today and buy a good shredder, not just a regular shredder, but a cross cut shredder that can shred up to 6 pages at a time. Shred everything! Even stuff that doesn’t need to be shredded. Better safe that sorry!

Be aware of shady store employees when paying by debit or credit card. You should never let your credit card be out of your sight. This has mostly been a problem in the restaurant industry when the individual serving you takes your card away to run it. How easy would it be for them to quickly write down your credit card information and start stealing money from you?

Never, never, ever give your personal information out over the phone, this is called phishing. This happens when someone calls posing as someone from your bank or credit card company asking you to verify your social security number. Don’t do it! They already have it and would never ask for that over the phone. Immediately hang up and call that institution and verify that it was not them and report it.

You just need to be aware of everything that is going on around you and in your personal life. You are smart and can protect yourself, but some people get lazy. Remember, the best identity theft protection can be done by you! Work hard to protect everything you have worked so hard to build.

RdDrfjames asked:

To purchase go to www.threedegreesoffcenter.net or search on ebay! Synopses: After winning 50 million dollars in the lottery, Matt thought that he’d found the perfect woman one evening when he meet Karen…she was smart, gorgeous and wanted him for his body…only trouble was that’s all she wanted from him. Upon waking the next morning Matt discovers that his mind has somehow been transferred into Karen’s body and there person in his body is definitely NOT Karen!