The last installment dealt with what must be done if someone actually steals your identity. you have seen what a major pain it is if someone gets your identity. The next several installments will cover the steps you can take to prevent someone from stealing your identity. The first thing is to understand what is necessary for any crime to be committed. It doesn't matter what the crime, three things are required for it to occur. If any of the components are missing, there can be no crime. In order to commit a crime someone must have the ability to commit the crime, he must have the desire to commit the crime and he must have the opportunity to commit the crime. You cannot control the bad guy's ability or his desire to commit a crime. You can, however, do something about his opportunity to commit a crime. If you take away his opportunity, he cannot commit a crime. That gives you tremendous power over the bad guy!
The first place to start is in the home. Much of Cheshire County is rural. Unfortunately, over the years rural living has changed. It used to be okay not to lock your doors when you lived in the country. with the availability of cars to just about everyone that has changed. It used to be that if you wanted to pay a bill, you would write a check, put it in an envelope, place it in your rural mailbox and raise the flag. When the mailman came by and saw the flag up, he knew you had something to mail and would pick it up. The bad guys also know that. They also know when most bills are due. All they have to do is cruise the rural; roads, look for those raised flags and know they hit the jackpot. All those lovely envelopes with checks and the return portions of bills. This gives them your bank routing number and your checking account number, as well as the account number of the credit card or other bill that you were paying. To avoid this danger, only use US Postal depository boxes for your mail. Rural mailboxes, and even apartment, or personal home mailboxes are all too vulnerable to theft. Also opt for electronic statements and pay your bills online whenever possible. This eliminates the possibility of a bad guy getting your bills or checks. The same bad guys who took your outgoing mail when he saw the flag raised, could also follow the mailman and remove your bills from your rural mailbox to get your bills to get your account numbers.
Also in your home, make sure you have good locks on your windows and door, and use them. Lock up even if you are only going out for a short time. One of the first things you should do is go through your trash to see how much information you are throwing out. You may be surprised! Do you really want someone to know what your address is?, or your account number? You might have thrown out an old bill with an account number on it. "Dumpster Diving" is the term used for going through someone's trash to get personal information. It is legal as long as the trash is out on the curb and not on your private property.
Where do you keep your important papers? Are they in a box, locked or otherwise, marked "Important Papers"? Do you keep your important personal information on your computer? do you keep outdated tax and financial records? If you answered "yes" to these questions, you are at great risk! safe deposit boxes are inexpensive and are a great, safe place to store important papers. Never store any personal information on our computer. Enter the information into your computer, but save it on removable storage media such as a flash drive or a disk, then lock the removable media in a safe place.
Finally, any outdated tax or financial records, as well as and old outdated bills and receipts should be destroyed by shredding them Shredders for home use are available and inexpensive.
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