PROTECT YOURSELF FROM IDENTITY THEFT

Identity theft is very difficult to be prevented. There are, of course, certain safety procedures everyone can adopt in order to reduce the chance of falling victim of this devastating crime but the awful truth is that no matter how much you care about protecting your personal information, you cannot be completely sure that your information is safe.
In addition, your personal information is already out there in the public domain and, therefore, it is extremely important to consider that people that hold your information can be careless, thus indirectly affecting the security of your personal information.
What is more, if you happen to lose your notebook or netbook or somebody else steals it from you, all the personal information and documents you have there can easily fall in unwanted hands.
In the summer of 2007 the state of Ohio experienced an information security breech when a digital media device was stolen out of a college intern's car. Don't blame the intern! He was interning for the state, and their policy of protecting sensitive data was to send this digital media device home with a different person every night and one person over the weekend. Sadly, this device contained the Personally Identifying Information on more than... 10 million Ohioans. This is one example, of thousands, where holders of your information are careless in safeguarding your Identity.
This said, you needn’t panic. There are still a couple of measures you can put in force in order to reduce your exposure to identity theft and reduce the damage that an identity thief can do to your credit record and personal life.

1. Check your credit reports.There is no reason why you shouldn’t be familiarized with your credit report. In fact, there are three nationwide credit report agencies that provide all American citizens with free personal credit reports that allow you to see if there are any inconsistencies that may damage your credit credibility. You are highly advised to ask for a free report from each agency every 12 months. For instance, you start with asking for a Transunion Report, four months later you ask for an Equifax report and four months later you ask Experian to send you a credit report for free. There’s even an official online site where you can get your credit report: annualcreditreport.com You are highly advised as well to dispute any unfamiliar items on your report, including unknown addresses. You should report any dispute items in writing as it can be considered a proof of you being a victim of identity theft.

2. Opt-Out. Avoid having your personal address and telephone available to the public. In other words, get your name off of the direct mail lists. Achieving this objective may take you a few months in order to get your name deleted from all of the lists, but once you have it, you’ll feel much more safe not to mention that you won’t be bothered as much. Place your phone numbers on the do not call list. You should also remember to carefully read the privacy policy that you receive every year from your credit card companies, banks, insurance providers, and anyone else that you may have an account with. Be completely sure that you tell the company that you do not want to be included in their 'partner' marketing campaigns.