Many of us hear about the threat of identity theft and do nothing to prevent it because it hasn’t happened to us. The scenarios below are based on a few stories that were found on another blog, but they help us to think about how real this crime can be.

What if you are out grocery shopping and you leave your purse in the cart for a brief second and then it is quickly stolen? In this purse, you had your credit cards, debit card, checkbook some cash and your cell phone! Now, the thief sends a text to the entry you have for your “hubby” asking him to remind you of your PIN number. He texts it back to your phone and the thief can now steal your cash. This shows how important it is to:

1) Keep your personal belongings with you. Leaving them for just a second can prove to be a huge mistake.

2) Do not save your husband, mom, children, etc. in your cell phone by a title. Use their first name so that it is not easy for anyone who might steal your phone to figure out who they are.

3) Be sure that you call to follow up with anyone asking for sensitive information (like your PIN number) via text. This is especially important if it is unusual behavior for you and your spouse or other family members.

Here is another scenario from the same blog:

You go to the gym and put your wallet, phone, keys, etc in your gym locker. You shut the locker, not realizing that it is not locked. After your workout, you see that the locker is open so the first thing you do is check to be sure that all of your valuables are still there. Once you realize that your keys, phone, credit cards and even cash are still in there, you think all is well.

A month passes by and you go to check your bank/credit card statements that just arrived in the mail (or via email). You notice a huge balance on a card that you know you haven’t used. You go to your wallet to be sure that you are in possession of the card, only to realize that it is a different credit card from the same bank. Someone switched out the card while they were going through your wallet at the gym. It is close to impossible to plead your case with the credit card company because you didn’t report the card stolen earlier.

What can we learn from this? First, be sure to check the contents of your wallet carefully and regularly, but especially when you notice anything unusual. Go with your gut feeling. Second, don’t take all of that with you to the gym! When you leave home, chances are that you only need maybe one card from your wallet for purchases you will make, IF you are not using cash. Why take more than one credit card with you?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.