How to Protect Yourself from Scams
I’ve been adding information on how to protect yourself from scams to the new book I Was Scammed, a follow-up to The Big Con. Here are some excerpts on how to protect yourself.
Some Ways to Prevent Identity Theft
There are a great many steps you can take to prevent identity theft from happening in the first place. These include the following:
- Safeguard your social security number (SSN) and other personal identity information.
- While you do need your driver’s license or other ID card to use to identify yourself when shopping, going to the bank, getting stopped by the police when driving, or in other situations, you should keep your other personal identity information in a secure location. For example, don’t carry your SSN in your wallet or purse and don’t take your passport with you unless you are traveling to another country. Consider using a safe deposit box in your home to keep your personal documents and place the key or combination to the lock in a safe place. Should anyone ask for your SSN, make sure this a legitimate request from someone authorized to request this, such as if you are applying for a job or loan or arranging for payment from a company you are working for.
Protect your other personal information
This other information to protect includes your credit card numbers, bank accounts, birth certificate, voter registration card, retirement accounts, and any special financial accounts, such as stock brokerage accounts. Some of the ways to protect this information include the following:
- Be cautious in who you share confidential information, such as your date of birth, mother’s maiden name, or key word used to identify you, such as your pet’s name. Only give this out on a need to know basis to trust individuals and organizations.
- Ask questions when someone says they need your personal information if you aren’t sure why they need it.
- Minimize the amount of personal and identifying information you carry with you. For example, don’t carry old deposit slips or blank checks with you.
- Cancel credit cards you aren’t using any longer, or at least don’t take them with you, since you may need to keep these cards to keep up your credit score, since you get points for having multiple cards.
- Check that you get your credit card back after you use it — and make sure you get back your own card.
- Make sure your passwords and personal information numbers (PINs) are secure. For example, use a password protection program, such as LastPass or record your passwords in a file you keep in a paper record, not in a file on your computer, since they can be retrieved if your computer gets hacked.
- Include only your name, address, and company name, if you have one, on your checks, so someone can’t use this additional information, such as your phone number.
- Preferably use a postal box, retail store, or office address for your mail rather than your home address.
- Don’t leave any items with personal information in your car, especially in plain view or an unlocked glove compartment, such as your vehicle registration, insurance cards, wallets, purses, or laptops. While you may need to keep your vehicle registration and insurance in your car in case you are stopped by the police and need to show proof you own the car and it is insured, keep this in a locked glove compartment. This reduces the risk that your personal identity can be stolen in the case of a car break-in.
- Don’t give out your personal information, including your credit card number, to people who call you or email you with offers, not matter how enticing or legitimate those offers seem. Instead, if there is a website, check out the offer there, and don’t download any attachments, click on any links, or call any numbers they ask you to call — since these could be ways to get information from you or place malware on your computer or phone.
- Don’t write your personal information number (PIN) on your ATM card, because if someone obtains your card, that gives them entry to your account.
- Don’t let anyone get too close to you when you are entering your personal information in an ATM or using your credit card to pay for something. Also, notice if there is a surveillance camera recording transactions, and if so, conceal your card or any numbers you enter with your body.
- Don’t keep your passwords or account information on your cell phone, laptop, or computer, since they can be retrieved if these items are stolen or hacked.
- Don’t give out personal information in quizzes in your social media news feed. Often these may seem like benign fun, when they ask for a single piece of information, such as where is your favorite place to go on vacation, what was your first pet’s name, how old were you when a particular event happened, and what is your month and day when you were born, so you can get a special birthday gift that day. However, sometimes cyberthieves are using these questions to gradually put together a personal profile of you and then they use that to scam you or others in various ways.
****************
The author is internationally published author and film producer, Gini Graham Scott, PhD, who has published over 200 books, 50 for traditional publishers and 150 for her own company Changemakers Publishing, specializing in books on self-help, popular business, and social issues. She is the author of The Big Con: Scams Targeting Writers, the Victims, and How to Avoid Becoming a Victim, and she is working on a new book on different types of scams: I Was Scammed. Other recent books include: What Type of Dog Are You? and The New American Middle Ages, published by Waterside Productions. She has written and executive produced 14 feature films and documentaries, featured on the www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com website. She also writes books and scripts for clients. Her website for writing is at www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com.
For more information or to set up an interview, contact:
Karen Andrews
Executive Assistant to Gini Graham Scott
Changemakers Publishing and Writing
Lafayette, CA 94549 . (925) 385–0608