ID Theft Experts Provide Tips to Keep Your Identity Personal this Holiday Season
Online and offline habits may make consumers susceptible to identity thieves
BEAVERTON, Ore., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Out shopping with a bag full ofreceipts? Piles of special end-of year credit card promotions filling yourmailbox? Leaving home on vacation? All of these situations provide a primeopportunity for identity thieves to strike.Rick Kam, president of identity theft protection and personal identityrecovery company ID Safeguards, warns, "The holiday season is ripe foridentity thieves to do their dirty work, and whether you realize it or not,you may be helping them. By taking a few simple steps, you can protectyourself from the efforts of fraudsters."
By following a few simple online and offline tips, consumers can decreasethe odds of becoming a victim this holiday. Top tips for protecting yourselfare:
-- Keep your whereabouts online a mystery: Your e-mail message should NOT
state you are on vacation, nor should you state on your blog or social
networking site that you are going out of town. Instead, say you are
out of the office spending time with family or you are going to take a
rest from your blog updates during the holiday.
-- New Year, New Passwords: Out with the old and in with the new. Make it
your yearly time to give new passwords to your online accounts.
-- Watch for the double swipe: Don't let yourself get distracted while
checking out. Sales assistants have been known to use devices called
skimmers to quickly swipe customer credit card numbers.
-- Shop, save and compare: Save all your online and physical shopping
receipts. As much as you don't want to look at those credit card
statements after the holidays, make sure they match your receipts. Call
your credit card company to report any unfamiliar purchases.
-- Going to Grandma's? Prepare your home: Place a hold on your mail with
the post office and stop newspaper delivery. A full mailbox is a gold
mine of information for identity thieves and a pile of newspapers
signals that your home is vacant.
-- Shop with one: Use only one credit card this season and store the rest.
Debit cards should never be used for online shopping as it provides
online thieves with direct access to your bank account.
-- When in doubt, keep it personal: You should only buy from known and
reputable sources on the Internet. You would never give a stranger on
the street your credit card information. Practice the same logic
online.
To learn more about current identity theft issues, visit the company blogat http://www.IDSafeguards.blogspot.com.
About ID Safeguards Identity Theft Protection and Recovery Services
ID Safeguards FraudStop(TM) protects families and individuals against thegrowing and increasingly sophisticated threat of identity theft. Going wellbeyond conventional monitoring of credit records, FraudStop uses proprietarytechnology to actively probe more than 1,500 sources of public and privateinformation to safeguard the identities of consumers against fraudsters.
During the holiday season until January 15, 2008, ID Safeguards isoffering FraudStop for $99 and $149 for family membership. To sign up forFraudStop, visit http://www.IDSafeguards.com/holiday2007.
About ID Safeguards
ID Safeguards provides identity theft protection services for consumer andcorporate customers. Unlike other identity theft service providers that relysolely on credit monitoring, ID Safeguards provides 360-degree identityprotection by monitoring more than 1,500 databases to prevent all means ofidentity theft. The company's team of U.S.-based personal recovery advocatesare identity theft experts who have a 100 percent success rate in restoringidentities for victims. Based in Beaverton, Ore., ID Safeguards currentlyprotects more than 2.5 million individuals nationwide and has managed databreaches for numerous corporate institutions and government agencies. For moreinformation visit http://www.IDSafeguards.com.SOURCE ID SafeguardsMelanie Adamson of MacKenzie Marketing Group, +1-503-225-0725, mobile,+1-503-789-8455, for ID Safeguards
