There are still many people that take papers with their personal information and just toss them into the trash.  By doing this, they just want to have their personal identity stolen.  Identity theft is just on the rise, and dumpster diving is one of the old fashion ways to steal a person’s personal information.

A paper shredder is not that expensive and is a worthwhile investment for any home or business.  Here is a list of papers that should be shredded and not just thrown in the trash.

• Old Tax Returns–you should save your tax returns for at least three years but after that time, it is safe to destroy them.  When you keep them, they should be kept in a firebox.  What an identity theft is looking for is not just your name and address but your Social Security numbers.  This includes your dependent’s numbers also.
• Bank Statements–any papers with your bank account numbers should be shredded.  If you do not need to receive bank statements, opt for online bank statements via email.
• Credit Card Offers–if you are not going to take the bank or credit card company up on their offer, shred them right away.  People do not like to think about it but identity theft does happen within family members.  Some family member could fill these out and open an account in your name.
• Old Photo ID’s–this includes any old security badges from previous workplaces or school ID’s.  A photo ID is not enough to steal your information by itself but it does contain personal information.  It could be used as part of a bigger identity theft scheme in order to bypass some fraud prevention measures.
• Pay Stubs–many people may not realize it but that pay stub is loaded with personal information that could be used by a skilled identity theft.  It has your name and many times your Social Security number. If you use direct deposit, it will also have the name of your bank and maybe part of your account number.
• Credit Card Convenience Checks–some credit card companies will send their cardholders these types of checks.  They can be used to borrow against the line of credit that you have for quick cash.  If you do not plan to use them, shred them immediately.
• Canceled Checks–even if you write void on a canceled check still has personal information on there.  There are your routing and account numbers on the bottom of the check.  Some people make sure that their checks have their name, address, and phone number on it.  Some will even have their phone number and Social Security number printed on the check.  In the info line, you may have even put an account number there and whom the number belongs too.
• Canceled Credit Cards–this includes any cards that you no longer plan on using.  Even the one that may have had the number stolen should be destroyed.  If you cannot put it through your shredder, cut through the magnetic strip, cut into four pieces, and put the pieces in different trash bags so they cannot be pieced back together and this is always a good credit protection practice.

In conclusion, if anything you are about to toss in the trash has any personal information on it, and then it should be shredded.  You do not want to become a victim of identity theft.

No one is immune from falling for a scam.  They can happen to any one of any age and at any stage in their life.  To help protect you from becoming a victim of a scam there are some things that you need to remember.  The best thing that you can do is remember that if sounds too good to be true it probably is and it is most likely a scam.

Protect Yourself

There are two identity theft protection ways that you can protect yourself from becoming a victim of a scam.  One of the most important things that you can do is making sure that you read the fine print not only at the bottom of the paper but anywhere that there appears to be small fine print.  In addition to the small print you should read the contract or agreement entirely before you sign it.  Scammers may use small print, sophisticated language, or asterisks to either confuse or hide the true meaning of what you are signing your name to.

You should also make sure that you guard all your personal information.  Make sure that you verify their identity if anyone asks for your personal information.  Make sure that you ask for their name, the name of their organization, the address, and the phone number.  You need to make sure that you verify this information through an outside source such as the telephone directory or their website.
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Becoming a victim of identity theft and having your personal information stolen is not something that can be fixed overnight.  It can takes months, maybe even years to get everything straightened out and for you to get your identity back.  One way that you can prevent this from happening is to consider freezing your credit report.  As everyone knows your credit report contains information about the way you pay your bills which lenders and creditors us to make any decision about to give you credit or not.

If you decide to freeze your credit repot these creditors and lenders cannot check your credit score or report unless you give the credit bureau a password.  Since most places will require a credit check before they will give a person a loan an application for credit will most likely denied if they do not have the correct password to check your credit score.  You can freeze your credit report with all 3 major credit bureaus.

If you already have credit with a company they can access your credit score and report without the password.  In addition, there are certain government entities and law enforcement agencies that can access your credit score and report.  Your credit score is not affected by the credit freeze.

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It seems that every day you read on the news about someone being the victim of identity theft or a data breach.  It is affecting everyone from individuals to corporations to law enforcement to government agencies.  There seems to be no end in sight and it appears that there is a very obvious need to improve the methods that are currently being used to combat this every growing epidemic.

To help jumpstart the investments that are needed to make consumers more aware of this problem, better technologies, and better monitoring of consumer accounts the National Institute of Standards and Technology has just offered ten million dollars worth of grants to organizations and commercial companies for research on improved technologies for identity security,  The agency is going to sponsor a competition that supports a pilot project which will feature improved systems that go past the simple use of passwords and users ID.  They want the systems to include trusted, interoperable online credentials.

This competition is going to be handled by the office of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).  This office is a White House initiative that will work with public and private sector agencies, advocacy groups, and other groups to help improve the convenience, privacy, and security of transactions done online.  They are figuring that they can fund five to eight projects for as long as two years with each project receiving approximately one point twenty-five to two million dollars per project.  March 7, 2012 is the deadline for submitting the initial proposal.  For any prospective applicants there will be an information meeting on February 15, 2012 but you do not have to attend this meeting to have your project selected.

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This type of scam can take on my variations.  It could be someone is offering to pay you for a service or to buy an item that you advertised for sale.  There may even be an offer that promises an “advance” on some sweepstakes that you have supposed to have won, or to pay for the first installment on the millions of dollars you are going to receive for agreeing to have money from a foreign country transferred into your bank account for safekeeping.

In most instances of fake check scams the one doing the scam will request that you to send money back to them in some way.  What they will do is send you a check for goods or services for more than the amount that is requested.  They will tell you to go ahead and deposit their check and then you are to wire them back the additional money.

In some instances, the scammer will ask you to wire them money for processing, legal fees, taxes, shipping, or any number of other expenses that you are going to have to pay before you will receive your reward or money.  The checks that the scammers will send you will feel and look real no matter if they are a cashier’s check or a personal check.  These checks have even been known to fool a bank teller.  These checks could have been written fraudulently or may be from a legitimate corporation or business.

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