The ten commandments of identity theft prevention
1. Thou shalt not carry a Social Security card with thee unless certain to need it.
2. Thou shalt not carry more than one credit card with thee.
3. Thou shalt not reveal personal information unless absolutely necessary.
4. Thou shalt not leave checks in the home mailbox with the red flag up.
5. Thou shalt not receive mail in an unlocked mailbox.
6. Thou shalt not reply to emails requesting personal/financial information, even if the sender claims to be from thine bank or creditor. Ditto phone calls requesting the same.
7. Thou shalt annually review free credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies.
8. Thou shalt keep personal and financial information out of sight and secured in a locked file cabinet or safe.
9. Thou shalt take the same care in protecting the identity of thine children, and check their credit report annually as well. (Identity theft lions prey on little lambs, and little lambs don’t usually discover it until they try to get a first car, job or student loan.)
10. Thou shalt place fraud alerts with credit reporting agencies.
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