Wallets/Purses

Limit the number of credit cards that you carry because the fact is that thieves steal these items. The thief will have less to work with if s/he gets their hands on these items. Memorize your SS# so that you won't have to carry the card and limit the papers you carry with this information on it.

When mailing outgoing mail with sensitive information, credit card bills, etc., mail them from an official postal pick up box and not your unsecured home mailbox. Use of your residential mailbox with the little red flag is a signal to the local thief that you have outgoing mail. Thieves sometimes steal the mail, others open the envelopes, copy the personal information, then reseal the envelope and mail the item. You don't realize that there's a problem until it's too late.

Don't throw documents in the trash that contain personal information. Criminals «dumpster dive» through the trash for this kind of information. If you can, shred the documents, if not, use a black marker to mark out the personal information, then tear up the documents before discarding them.

Pay attention to your mail. You should know how much mail on average you receive each day. If there is an interruption in that amount you may want to contact the post office to find out why.

Never give out personal information over the telephone. (How many times do we have to say this?) If you initiated the call and know who you are talking to it may be OK to give the information if it is necessary to accomplish your needs.

Check all of your monthly bills upon receiving them. If you find something that you don't recognize on the bill, especially credit cards, contact the issuer immediately, and resolve the problem. It could just be a mistake on the issuers' part or it could be criminal activity which will only become worse.

In today's market information is a valuable commodity and criminals are paying for this information from «brokers» who sell it. (This shouldn't be much of a surprise since spys have done this for years.).

GOOD LUCK!