The following are some ways to help protect yourself from identity theft:
- Be very cautious about giving out any personal information if you aren’t certain who the person is.
- Shred any personal information that you discard in the trash, including bills, credit cards or personal documents.
- Never respond to emails that request personal information, contact the company by phone. Remember, banks and other institutions are not going to email you for your personal information or passwords that they already know! Also many scam emails will have links to direct you to a seemingly legitimate logon site. These sites record your logon and password data.
- Never respond to any email or phone call which claims that you are owed a large amount of money as soon as you wire a smaller amount to someone.
- Check your bank and credit card statements carefully every month and report any fraudulent charges.
- Get a yearly copy of your credit report from one of the listed credit agencies below. Look for any accounts or addresses that are not yours.