Identity Theft

Worried about identity theft? Everybody is these days.

However are you doing something that could help someone steal your identity without realizing it? Are you on Facebook or other social networking sites that ask for your birthday? Do you put it in?

Well don't!

Your birthday is something that is one of the three markers that can be used to steal your identity. Don't put in a birthday or deliberately put in a wrong one. It won't matter to your use of the site if the date is wrong but it helps to deter an identity thief.

Identity Theft

When it comes to identity theft some things are more important to the thief than others. One thing they want to get is your birthdate. People make that easy for them by publicly displaying their date of birth on the Internet. If you join Facebook, for instance, it asks for your date of birth which is displayed on your profile for everyone to see. Make up a fake birthdate. I know someone in their thirties who uses February 29, 1912. The farther it is from your birthdate the better off you probably are.

I have also seen people who use their full date of birth in their email addresses. I know a couple of people who use the month and year but I've seen others that have the month, day and year.

Be careful with your information.

Shredding

Identity theft is a big problem that will only get worse. I tell my clients to get a cross-cut shredder and one that will do 8 to 12 pages at at time. You can buy them at any big box office supply story such as Staples, Office Max or Office Depot. Usually there is at least one that is on sale or has a rebate.

What do you shred? Anything that could allow anyone to steal your identity. Credit card offers, credit card bills, utility bills, discarded checks, financial statements of any kind that you are throwing out, phone bills, utility bills and anything with a credit card number (including receipts).

Yes, people actually do go through garbage to find these things. That's why shredding them is so important.