Clark, Perdue & List's Blog

Identify theft is a growing problem, and no one is immune from the threat. It can ruin your credit, affect your employment, tarnish your reputation, and make you the unwitting subject of a criminal investigation.

There are several things you can do to protect your private information and data from identify thieves.

First, purchase a paper shredder and shred all trash that contains any personal information. This would include billing statements from any vendor and especially banking and financial statements.

When you have your driver's license renewed, ask that you social security number not be printed on it. Also, when anentityt--such as a hospita--has a legitimate need for you social security number, ask that it not be printed on documents that may become public, or that only the last four digits be printed.

Additionally, Consumer Reports magazine offers the following sensible suggestions:

Opt out of:

**Telemarketing. Put your name on the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call registry by going to http://www.donotcall.gov/ or by calling 888-382-1222.

**Unwanted solicitations. Ask financial institutions, retailers, and websites not to share your information with other nonaffiliated companies. Contact the Direct Marketing Association at www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html. For unsolicited email, go to www.dmaconsumers.org/consumers/optoutform-emps.shtml.

** Sales of your information to others. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse lists data brokers and offers limited opt-out policies at www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm.

Check what's on file about you:

**Order your free annual report from each of the major nationwide credit-reporting companies once every 12 months at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.

** Request your files from the major data brokers: ChoicePoint at http://www.choicetrust.com/ and LexisNexis at www.lexisnexis.com/terms/privacy/data/obtain.asap.

**Get medical information. If you've applied for individual health or life insurance policies within the past seven years, the MIB Group keeps data that insurers use to help determine your rates. Get a report by calling MIB toll free at 866-692-6901.
Consumer Reports, October 2007, p. 44.

Finally, don't provide personal information to a caller claiming to be with a business that you deal with unless the caller can offer sound verification that the call is legitimate. The same precaution pertains to emails claiming to be from a bank or business you deal with and requesting personal information for a seemingly legitimate reason. Call the company to see if the request is legitimate. In most cases, these requests are a fraud.

If you use common sense and take some of the precautions listed above, you can at least minimize the risk of identify theft.