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10 Ways to Avoid Being the Victim of Identity Theft
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Tags: identity theft, theft, Top 10, protection, safety
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing areas of crime in the online/information world. The FTC's January 2006 report said that 37% of their 685,000 consumer fraud complaints received in 2005 involved identity theft. Many think the number for identity theft is even bigger, much bigger. With that said, here is a list of 10 things you can do to help protect yourself.
| 1. | Protect your computer. A lot of sensitive data is stored on your PC, make sure it is locked down. |
| 2. | When web surfing, use another identity. Be stealth. |
| 3. | Watch out for phishing scams. Carefully review your email for hints of fraud. |
| 4. | Pay by cash, but if you can't, pay by credit card. There is more protection for you if you use your credit card online. |
| 5. | Get off of mailing lists, especially those for preapproved credit cards. And if you don't take them up on their offer, shred the information. |
| 6. | Regularly check your credit reports on all three of the big credit agencies. Make it part of your end of year or beginning of year financial review. |
| 7. | If you think someone is attempting to steal your identity, report it right away. If you are wrong, at least you took some action to protect yourself. |
| 8. | Shop online only on secure websites. |
| 9. | Protect all of your personal information. |
| 10. | Protect PINs, passwords, anything that gets you access to personal or financial information. |
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