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Ways to Protect Yourself from Computer Identity Theft
Identity theft is considered a huge problem in our society. Everyday the number
of internet users increases and for most people, their computer is an integral
part of their daily lives. With the convenience of online banking and shopping,
there is also an increase of cases of identity theft.
Individuals who are new to using the internet sometimes fall victim
to computer identity theft. In most cases, the person involved in
the identity theft systems uses your credit cards to buy supplies
and merchandise for themselves.
These identity thieves may apply for credit card and open bank accounts in
your name, destroying your good credit score in the process. Repairing the
devastation caused by these thieves eats up your time, effort and is stressful,
so here are ten ways that you can avoid falling victim to identity theft.
• Create a disposable email address
Make sure that you have one email address that you only use for businesses
and another for personal communication. If for instance, you want to buy something
online, or you want to join a newsgroup, it is better to use a disposable
email address.
Yahoo and hotmail are some of the free accounts where you can make you own
disposable email. Both of these are able to interface with other famous email
clientele such as the outlook and the outlook express. You can use one of
the two for your purchasing transactions.
• Cover up your internet identity
If your name is Chris Brown try to not to use it in making your email accounts
especially when having business with people you are not familiar with.
If your birth date is April 3, 1980, do not create an account that
contains both your name and birth date.
• Use a unique password
You can use one password for your private data, use a different
one for your account and another one for your disposable email addresses
you made. If possible, do not use passwords that appear in order like password3
for your private account, password4 for you business transactions and password4
for disposable email addresses. I recommend that you use Roboform
Free Download HERE. Roboform is a tool that generates complicated passwords for you that hackers cannot
guess, stores them for you in one convenient place, memorizes and encrypts passwords for you, fills in password fields for you. This is really the best tool to have to protect
all of your passwords and keep them in one place.
• Use “tough” passwords
Avoid using birthdates, anniversaries, or your children’s birthdates
when making passwords. Do not use passwords that are purely letters or numbers.
In addition, do not use passwords that are true words. Make passwords made
of phases like “I drink 1 glass of milk everyday”. Get the first
letter of every word in the phrase and it will result to “id1gome”.
• Change your passwords
You should change you passwords at least every 6 months. If you think
your passwords have been compromised, change them immediately for your protection.
• It is important that you only use one credit card for every online
transaction that you make.
If you have more than three credit cards, stick to the one that you know
will best work for online transactions. This is so that you can monitor
the transactions made with each of your credit cards. If your other credit
cards have an online transaction, then you know it was not you that incurred those.
• Make use of a credit card rather than a debit card
Though many debit cards have online purchase safety steps, it is easier to
fight fake charges than to refund debit card because it is an instant transfer
of money from your bank account (same as cash).
• When you make online transactions make sure that the site you are
purchasing from is secure. For example, you should be redirected to a site
which looks like this "HTTPS... Note the "S", this stands for "secure".
If you are making your first transaction on the internet, make sure that
the company you are dealing with is legitimate or you know someone else who
has made a similar purchase.
• Check for the company’s privacy guidelines
When conducting your first purchase online, review the privacy guidelines,
search for logos from purchasers groups and try to find out if they are a
member of the better business bureau. If possible, click the logos to confirm
that they are genuine.
• Do not open or sign up email inviting you to update your email account
or credit card information through email.
These emails are fraudulent. Some people do attempt to obtain your personal
data. Most of them increasingly improve their modus operandi and go to great
lengths to appear genuine like the company websites using their own logos.
This is known as "phishing". Basically, these shady individuals are "casting"
their emails out there and hoping you will reply with your personal information
so that they can do all sorts of evil things with it.
Following these guidelines will help to protect you from computer and internet
identity theft.
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