Help to Protect Your Identity From Fraud

There is no way to protect yourself completely from the growing threat of identity fraud, but you can take a number of steps yourself to reduce the risks of becoming a victim, and there are also a number of businesses and organizations offering additional identity theft protection services that can help you to safeguard your personal information.

Look after your personal information

You should be treating all of the personal information in your care as private, and restricting the number of people that have access to it by keeping all important documents such as bank statements, utility bills and credit card statements in a safe place away from prying eyes.  You should also make sure you lock any key identity documents such as passports, birth certificates and drivers licenses away in a secure safe, and only carry them around with you when you go out and about if you absolutely need to.  Never throw any paper documents with your personal details on away without shredding them first, and make sure you shred or cut up any old plastic cards, checkbooks and other sensitive account documents before you dispose of them.

Identity Theft Protection services

Identity theft protection services provide a number of ways in which to help safeguard your identity from thieves and fraudsters, including top level security software for your home computer, credit monitoring for your consumer credit report and also online monitoring to ensure none of your details are being published or traded on the Internet without your knowledge.  Leading services such as Identity Guard, LifeLock and TrustedID also provide up to $1 million insurance policy against identity theft, which can help cover the costs if you do become a victim.