What should I be doing to protect myself from identity theft?

Question

You see ads all over the place for services that purport to protect you from identity theft, but my gut tells me that most of these are at best marginally effective and at worst outright scams.

Are any of these services worth the cost of subscribing to them? What is the best strategy for protecting myself from identity theft and similar malice?

Answer 1

Here are a handful of measures I take myself:

• I check my credit reports once in a while and look for anything out of the ordinary.

• If somebody calls me on the telephone claiming to be from my bank or credit card company, utility, etc. I ask for their number, check it, and call them back. I don't give personal information to people merely claiming to be from a place I do business with.

• I never fill out ballots for free contests. Most of the time these are scams. When I get a call telling me "you won a free cruise" for a ballot I supposedly filled out at the mall, I say they're lying through their teeth. For excitement, I'll sometimes buy a lotto ticket instead.

• I'm careful when I surf the web. I don't give my personal information to web sites I can't trust. If they look the least bit shady, I'm out. Also, I use different passwords at different web sites. I avoid using a password from a public terminal, but when I must, I change my password soon after.

• I'm careful when I download software. I don't install anything I didn't get from a trusted source. I pay for software when necessary, so finding a trusted source is not hard. But, I've heard of people who – to save a buck – would download a pirated application from a shady warez site only to be "gifted" a trojan horse key logging or other spyware along with it.

• When I no longer need a bill, receipt, statement, etc. or any document containing personal information, I shred it, and I use a shredder that does a micro-cut, not just a strip- or cross-cut. The micro-cut remains go in the green bin with wet and yucky organic waste.

• When I no longer need a hard drive, I use a secure wiping tool like Darik's Boot & Nuke before reusing. If the drive isn't worth reusing, I'll wipe first then take apart with my Torx screwdriver. Once I have the drive platter, I scratch the heck out of it. Remains go to the community recycling depot.

That's all I can think of right now; I probably missed a few :-)

So, what do others do? I'm curious, too.

Answer 2

http://annualcreditreport.com gives you free access to your 3 credit bureau records.

(Annual, not "free". The "free" guys will try to sell you something.)

Answer 3

Every 90 days add an Initial Fraud Alert to each of the 3 major credit bureaus.

• Experian
• Equifax
• TransUnion