With the many technological advances that have come along over the past few decades the world seems to be a much more efficient place; however, what is efficient for us as buyers is also efficient for thieves who prey on our dependence on technology. While things may be much smoother for us as a nation with our instant online payments, our PayPal access, our Ebay purchases and our online bill pay, things are also particularly risky for us when it comes to maintaining the security of our personal identities. That is not to say that before the advent of such convenience identity theft did not occur, but it is certainly a noticeable trend which has been on the rise since our increased dependence on technology.
Before there were computers and PDA’s and smart phones to do our bidding society relied upon the mail system as well as good old fashioned cash to pay their bills. Where many people would mail in checks others would simply take cash down to their electric company and pay their bill; however, in a nation that has now become dependent on electronic payments as much as it has become dependent on credit cards, the situation has changed considerably. It used to be that the biggest fear for consumers would be to have their checks stolen from their mailbox as they awaited mail pick up, or even that credit card statements would be stolen out of mailboxes after mail had been delivered. However, as time has progressed technological advances have made accessing personal information even more accessible. With a few lines of code and a little investigating computer hackers can now access just about any aspect of your personal life that they choose.
Years ago, even if a credit card statement was stolen or a check was taken these would result in inconveniences sure, but these inconveniences pale in comparison to the sheer annihilation that technological savvy thieves are capable of these days. In a matter of minutes thieves can obtain access not only to your credit card number, checking account number, address and full name but they can also get access to your social security number which opens up a whole new world of risk. With a social security number a thief can open new accounts in your name as well as access records of current accounts, they can completely turn your life upside down in a matter of just a few days. The unfortunate aspect of this type of theft is that it is not just your money that is being taken and utilized without your consent but it is also your reputation and your personal life. As the thief runs up credit card bills, extends loans, makes purchases they cannot afford even on your credit, these debts all come back to one person – you. Even though you know that these charges were not made by you, proving that they were made by someone else and finding a way to stop the thief and get your name back is a long and tedious process that often times takes years to complete. During these years this thief continues to use your name and destroy your reputation leaving you to live among the rubble.
So what can be done to prevent the theft of personal information in a day and age that is so reliant upon technology? Well just because technology has the ability to be accessed by thieves does not always mean that it will be. One way to help to ensure your security when accessing and sharing personal information online is to always type a website name directly in to your browser. Many thieves obtain personal information by sending e-mails called “phishing” e-mails to e-mail addresses that they locate online or purchase from an e-mail list. E-mail lists can be sold by individuals who obtained your e-mail address legally, even big companies have been known to sell their e-mail lists so keep this in mind when you sign up for any news letters or updates online! Thieves utilize these e-mail addresses to obtain personal information by sending generic e-mails from what appear to be official company websites. Often times these official companies can be places such as your personal bank, eBay or even your car loan or mortgage company.
These e-mails generally ask you to click a link and log in to verify your account information as part of a security system check. These e-mails often look professional and even contain the official logo of the institution that the thief is pretending to represent; however, there is one factor that can tip you off as to whether the e-mail really comes from your financial institution or whether it comes from a thief. Without clicking on any links you can place your mouse over the link that you are being asked to click, the address of the website will appear in the corner of your screen. The website address that shows up may be familiar to that of your financial institution; however, it will contain small differences (or sometimes large differences) that will let you know that this is a phishing e-mail. Phishing e-mails are particularly abundant in today’s society and while you may wish to forward this phishing e-mail to your financial institution, there is very little likelihood that they will be able to follow up on the case. Generally the best thing to do with these e-mails is to delete them and NEVER click the links within them. If you have questions as to whether the e-mail is a phishing e-mail and you can’t tell by holding your mouse over the links in the e-mail you should go to your internet browser and type the website address of your financial institution directly or even call them to inquire as to whether they initiated the e-mail or not.
E-mail has become a rather effective way for thieves to steal personal information from individuals whether it is the theft of banking information by the utilization of phishing e-mails as described above or whether it is through the selling of your e-mail information on e-mail lists. Whenever you utilize your e-mail address to sign up for any newsletters or e-mail updates you want to make sure that there is a privacy policy on the website that states that they will not utilize or sell your e-mail address for anything other than the newsletter you have signed up for. Without a privacy policy such as this the organization is free to, and probably will, sell your personal information including your name and e-mail address to anyone who is willing to pay for it which will result in a mass of spam e-mail for you which can not only be irritating but it can also be dangerous when you start to get phishing e-mails as described above.
What about when you have to input information online though? Forget signing up for e-mails and newsletters voluntarily, what about when you have to sign up to pay something online? Paying bills or accessing financial information online is not always a bad thing, in fact it can help to save the environment, save in late fees as well as provide incentive bonuses from some institutions. There is a key to paying bills online, however that helps to maintain your personal privacy. When you endeavor to pay bills or access financial or personal information online you should always follow the advice given above and type the website of the financial institution directly in to your internet browser. By typing the address yourself you reduce the risk of being tricked by cloned websites that are designed to steal your personal information. When you go to log in to your personal information or even when you go to make a payment online you always want to check for a letter ‘S’ in the website address, so it should read “shttp” or “https” meaning that the website is considered “secure”, these websites also commonly feature an icon of a padlock in the right hand corner of the website. These features allow you to recognize that there is a security system in place on the website designed to protect the transfer of your personal information. Without these security features it is possible for other people (hackers included) to access your personal information while it is being transferred over the internet.
Another way that your personal information can be accessed by thieves over the internet is through hacking databases and obtaining passwords. One way that you can help to keep your personal information secure is to regularly change your online access passwords. Passwords should be something that you can easily remember; however, they should be something that is difficult to guess in order to make sure that you are the only one who has access to your personal information. Passwords become harder to decode when they contain a wide variety of characters, generally it is best to incorporate numbers, letters, capital letters and symbols in your password or a combination of two of these elements. Passwords should be difficult to guess and it is important that they are changed regularly. It is suggested that you change your online passwords once every month in order to keep them dynamic and reduce the likelihood that someone will gain access to your personal information. As a general rule you want to change all online passwords once a month including the password to your e-mail address because in a society where so much financial activity is performed online, access to an e-mail address is almost as good as access to all of your financial information.
Even with a good password and a trusted website, things sometimes go wrong when making purchases online and your financial information can become compromised. Experts recommend that any online purchases are limited to a credit card which carries a small credit limit. The reason for confining internet purchases to credit cards with small credit limits is due to the fact that credit cards are easily canceled and their fraudulent charges departments are generally well staffed and able to resolve conflicts quickly and neatly. Utilizing a credit card with a small credit limit to make online purchases also makes sure that if your personal information does become compromised only $xxx can be utilized by the thief, whereas if you utilize your bank account information or your check card all of your funds can quickly be wiped out and are not so easily returned. Fraud investigations for banks tend to be much longer processes that involve a lot of paperwork and often times they require police reports whereas credit card companies that are more adapted to dealing with fraudulent charges are generally able to refund questionable purchases within a few days as well as prevent further charges being made to your account.
It is impractical in this day and age to avoid making purchases and payments online and while quite a few people choose to protect their personal identities by doing this they also do not realize that many other things they do are putting their personal information at risk as well. One prime example of giving thieves access to personal information is neglecting to shred personal mail. On any given day most people receive credit card offers, credit card statements or banking statements in the mail, these letters (although more recently they have been more secretive about doling out personal information) often contain enough information for a thief to gain access to your personal accounts without too much work. In order to prevent a thief from obtaining your financial information by simply going through your garbage bags it is important that you invest in a good quality paper shredder. Any and all mail that contains personal information should first be put through a shredder before being thrown away; this includes credit card offers, bank statements and credit card statements. Shredding mail makes it next to impossible for thieves to obtain your personal information by going through your garbage and thereby reduces the chance that they will be able to steal your financial information or other personal data.
Another important key in protecting your personal information is to keep a close eye on banking statements and charges made with your credit card, check card or checks. Many people do not realize it but it is not only online purchases that give thieves the opportunity to steal your personal information. How many times do you and your family eat out at a restaurant each week? Do you know and trust the waiter or hostess who takes your credit card in to the back to pay your bill? Are you sure that they have not copied down your credit card information to utilize later or sell to a thief? It happens more often than people realize and rarely do people hesitate to hand over that credit card to the friendly waiter, waitress or hostess to pay their bill. That is not to say that you should not pay your bill but try to stick to the same tips given above for online purchasing when you are making purchases such as restaurant meals. Any time someone is walking away with your credit card there is the opportunity for them to steal your credit card information and run up debt in your name. Utilizing a low limit credit card will help you to limit any damage that is done by an identity thief who obtains your personal information in this way.
Talking about identity theft and having personal information stolen is a scary thing and many people will come away from this article feeling like they should never make an online purchase again but this is not the aim of this article. The aim of this article is to make you aware of what is going on around you, to make you aware of what you are handing over to complete strangers and to give you some tips on how to prevent those strangers from taking advantage of your financial well-being. There are many ways in which someone can collect your personal information from e-mail collection to theft of bank statements and credit cards but the good news is that there are many options for you to protect your personal information as well. Even with these options in place many people feel much more secure by utilizing services that monitor credit reports and access of personal information. Some people find that using these paid services gives them not only an extra peace of mind when it comes to the privacy of their personal information but they also find that should someone gain access to their personal information that any fraudulent charges are reimbursed immediately. These services are certainly not mandatory and most people find that by implementing a few common sense techniques like those listed above, that their personal information remains secure, but for those who require a little extra peace of mind these services offer a little something extra. However you decide to protect your personal information, the important things is that you do it, identity theft is at an all time high and there is no time like the present to begin to protect your personal assets.
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