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" I live in fear of identity theft -- and I&amp;#039;m not just talking about someone stealing my credit card numbers and going on a spending spree. If crooks get hold of your personal information, they could take out student loans in your name, file false claims for income tax refunds, run away with leased cars and start dicey businesses (imagine finding yourself listed as the proprietor of an escort service!). If your dirty double gets arrested for drunk driving or theft, the offense may show up on a background report and you might lose your insurance or even a job.  Guarding Information  Identity theft doesn&amp;#039;t happen only online. Crooks can get your information the old-fashioned way--from lost wallets, stolen mail and checkbooks, and personal information lifted from your trash. Here&amp;#039;s how to protect yourself online and off:  Rip up financial records before you toss them. I add mine to bags of wet garbage. Or, use a home shredder. Don&amp;#039;t forget to destroy the blank checks that come with solicitations for loans and credit cards.  Review monthly bills. Make sure you recognize the charges from utilities, credit card companies and your phone company.  Keep an eye on your Social Security number. Take everything out of your wallet that has the number printed on it. And resist giving out your Social Security number when asked. Different forms of ID can work just as well, and companies will often accept alternatives. (You do have to give your number when you&amp;#039;re asking for credit or applying for a job.)  Don&amp;#039;t get phished. Never disclose personal information by Web or phone to anyone who contacts you unsolicited. Emails that appear to come from your bank or phone company can be from copycat sites hoping to trick you into revealing your financial data.  Secure your computer. If you keep financial data on your computer, set up a password to make sure only you can access your files. And never use your computer to store a list of the passwords you use for online banking or other financial Websites.  Choose credit cards over debit cards. If a thief steals your credit card, you&amp;#039;re liable for no more than $50 in unauthorized charges. With a debit card, you could be liable for $500; the loss could even be unlimited if you don&amp;#039;t report the fraud within 60 days after your statement was mailed.  Cancel inactive credit cards. Without regular statements, you can&amp;#039;t tell if the card is being misused.  Watch your checks. If you lose some, cancel your account and open a new one. Stopping the individual checks might not work. Thieves could wait for the stops to expire and use the checks then.  Taking Precautions  Losing control of your identity often isn&amp;#039;t your fault. The organizations that compile, hold or sell your personal information can be shamefully careless about checking and protecting it. Retailers, employers, universities, government agencies, data brokers and credit card processors are all vulnerable. Some inadvertently disclose your data online. In general, third parties are not financially liable for circulating false information about you in a credit report or personal background check unless they fail to fix the error after you point it out. As a result, they don&amp;#039;t have much incentive to spend money on extra security. You&amp;#039;re the one who has to keep careful watch.  To spot trouble, take advantage of a new law. Once a year, you can get a free credit report from each of the three major bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com for yours. Every four months, ask for one of the reports. That way, you&amp;#039;ll have a rolling record of what&amp;#039;s going on as well as a regular opportunity to spot accounts you didn&amp;#039;t set up. Be sure to spell the name of the Website correctly. If you make a typo, you&amp;#039;ll probably wind up at one of the more than 100 imposter sites that are secretly gathering personal information for sale. Better yet, order your free reports by phone (call 877-322-8228) and ask that the credit bureau hide the first five digits of your Social Security number. Warning: Don&amp;#039;t go to the credit bureau Websites directly for your report. They&amp;#039;ll &amp;quot;give&amp;quot; it to you only if you buy one of their pricey credit-monitoring products. If You&amp;#039;re Suspicious  Let&amp;#039;s say you have reason to believe you might become a victim of identity theft -- your credit cards have been stolen, for example. You can put a 90-day fraud alert on your credit report. A call to just one of the bureaus will flag all three (Equifax, 800-525-6285; Experian, 888-397-3742; TransUnion, 800-680-7289). During that period, creditors aren&amp;#039;t supposed to open new accounts in your name without taking extra steps to verify your identity. You may renew the alert for another 90 days; or, if fraud actually occurs, you can extend it for seven years.  You might also consider a security freeze if your state offers it. A freeze tells the bureaus not to open any new credit accounts in your name under any circumstances. Before you can open a new account yourself, you have to remove the freeze, and doing that can take several days. Eight states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey and North Carolina) let any consumer request a security freeze; four more (Illinois, Texas, Vermont and Washington) provide it to victims of identity theft; and others have legislation pending. Helpful Resources Where to Go for Help if Your Identity Has Been Stolen: You&amp;#039;ll want to file an official report with the Federal Trade Commission -- visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft or call 877-382-4357.You can also order an excellent free booklet, Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft. Also, visit the Public Interest Research Group site, www.pirg.org/consumer/credit, and www.privacyrights.org for more information. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/money/advice/a16732/identity-thieves-0106/>