Contrary to what you may read in the news today, identity theft is not limited to digital media. Even though there are a lot of reports of computers at universities or stores being hacked or laptops being lost or stolen, Identity Theft can also happen at home. Are you doing what you can to prevent it from happening to you?
Think about how much mail you get at your house. Does it include bank statements, bills for utilities like gas and electricity, and water bills? Do you have to pay fees to your homeowners' association? What about all the credit card bills and offers to sign up that you get? Your mail will come to your home address from the DMV. Tax refunds are also sent to your home address by the government. Do you get money from Social Security? Do you get mail with bills for your car? Your address is used to send you information about school loans or student loans, bank loans, refinancing your house, and so on.
Now, all someone has to do is look in your mailbox and take your mail or go through your trash after you've thrown everything away to get all of your personal information. This kind of identity theft is called "dumpster diving," and it can be stopped by following a few easy steps.
Get a mailbox that can be locked if you can. Set up a Post Office box at your local Post Office instead of getting a locked mailbox. You may have to take a little more time out of your day to get your mail, but behind lock and key, your personal information will be safer. You might also want to buy a shredder with cross-cutting blades. Anything paper-related that you throw away should go through the shredder first. This will make it harder for dumpster divers to get your personal information. They might see all the shredded paper and move on to the next house, since most people don't want to take the time to gather all the shredded paper in hopes of finding some personal information.
Try to cut back on the amount of mail you get. Some of the companies that send you bills might let you pay and see your bills online. You can also reduce the amount of personal information that ends up in the trash by signing up for these services. You can get less junk mail, like offers for credit cards or to refinance your home, by going to the following site and opting out of receiving such offers:
Association for Direct Marketing
Choice of Mail Service
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist
By giving out as little of your personal information as possible, you make it less likely that someone will steal your identity.
