Identity theft prevention: what YOU can do to protect yourself RIGHT NOW

Although there is no surefire way of identity theft prevention, there are ways to make it less likely to happen to you.


This page:

    • Describes free methods of identity theft prevention

    • Introduces two online services which can help protect your credit

Protect your identity, for pennies a day

Your credit worthiness is quite possibly your single most important financial asset. Protect yourself with the service that is so fool-proof, the CEO publishes his social security number on the web... Learn more about LifeLock and its service

Free identity theft prevention

Knowing how identity theft happens is the first step in preventing it. If you haven't already done so, read our Intro Page to ID Theft to familiarize yourself with how this crime can occur.

Done? Okay, let's move on.

There's no question that identity theft is an enormous hassle, so taking preventative steps to lower the chances of becoming a victim is a great idea. The following are free measures you can take right now, to help reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim:


    • Keep your mail secure
Stealing mail is the easiest way to get the personal information needed to commit identity theft. Credit card statements, pre-screened credit offers or tax information all contain private information that can be used to open new accounts or access existing ones. Keeping your mail secure is the simplest identity theft protection measure you can take.

    • Shred everything!
This goes hand-in-hand with keeping your mail secure: invest in a $100 shredder, and your investment will likely be returned to you a hundredfold. Shred your mail, any important documents, IDs, credit cards, checks, anything and everything with identifying information, especially your social security number.

Don't shred the envelopes your documents come in. The glue on envelopes will eventually cause your shredder to get stuck, and you'll have to buy a new one.


    • Keep your personal info to yourself
This may seem like a no-brainer, after all it seem like we're all taught, while still in the womb, not to give out our passwords or social to anyone, ever, yet people still do this, every day, and become victims of ID theft. D'oh!

When speaking to phone agents, you rarely have to give out your social security number, passwords, pin numbers, or anything of that nature. Your mother's maiden is another thing you'll want to keep to yourself.

    • Speaking of your mother's maiden name...
There is actually no real legal reason why you should use your mother's real maiden name when opening a new account. After all, an enterprising thief could figure it out. Use a generic one, that you'll remember. How about your best friend's last name?

Online identity theft prevention services

There may be no national identity theft police, but there are services that can help you monitor your credit profile, and even lock your credit report so that only you and parties you authorize can ever look inside.

    • Sign up for credit monitoring
By signing up for 3-in-1 credit monitoring from Equifax you will receive e-mail alerts whenever changes are posted to any of your three credit reports. (Yes, you have three).

It may be impossible to completely protect all of your personal information all the time, but by having a credit service constantly monitoring your credit account activity you'll be able to catch fraudulent activity early.

    • Lock your credit file This is a newer type of service, available to anyone with a credit profile (basically, everyone). LifeLock identity protection allows you to lock your credit profile, so that only you and parties that you authorize will have access to your information and your credit score. This service is so fool-proof, that the CEO of LifeLock publishes his social security number on the web. Seriously.


Next: Other types of identity fraud