A Brief Guide To Identity Theft Prevention

It becomes important for consumers to know the principles of identity fraud prevention, since the concept is tied so closely with identity theft prevention. The two ideas really go hand in hand. So the question becomes: How much personal information can the average person find about him or herself online that can be damaging if it fell into the wrong hands?

When considering identity theft prevention and the personal information readily available via the internet, it may surprise some people to know that even the most essential statistics quickly arrive at a criminal's fingertips. For example, sites like Anybirthday.com give out -- you guessed it -- anyone's birthday. A birth date is a critical piece of information for people concerned with identity fraud prevention, since most thieves are looking for just this type of personal information to commit identity theft.

Other websites should be of concern for those trying to optimize identity theft prevention measures. Record search sites like completeddetective.com and findsomeone.com can locate previous and current addresses with only a person's first and last name. Criminal and civil court records are available through public databases.

Of course, the biggest possibility for identity theft comes from online accounts. While the Internet Age has made it easier for us to do our banking and pay our bills, any online account has the potential to be compromised. These include:

* Bank Accounts

* Services like PayPal

* Accounts for your bill paying services.

* Individual accounts with online merchants

A poor practice of identity theft prevention is online accounts protected by a simple password or PIN (personal identification number), like your birthday or your mother's maiden name. Many people are inundated with passwords and stick to simple ones they can remember. That's a huge advantage for an identity thief. A good password should have a random numbers, letters, and special characters like an exclamation point.

Giving out your passwords or PIN (personal identification number) to a well-trusted friend or family member can potentially compromise your identity. It's easy to let personal information slip without intending to do so. The less people who know your private information, the better you create identity theft prevention. Dealings online may be convenient -- but pause and protect yourself before you share anything that may leave you financially ruined.

When Frank Abagnale trains law enforcement officers for the FBI's National Academy about identity theft, he asks agents for their addresses and nothing more. The next day, he returns with everything he would need to steal their lives: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, current salary, checking account numbers, the names of everyone in their family, and more. This illustrates how easy it is for anyone from anywhere in the world to assume our identity and, in a matter of hours, devastate our lives in ways that can take years to recover from. Considering the fact that a fresh victim is hit in the U.S. every four seconds, Stealing Your Life is the reference everyone needs, by an unsurpassed authority on the latest identity-theft schemes.

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