Thursday, October 22, 2009

Identity Theft Forum 10/19

On October 19th Secret Service Agent Joel Blackerby informed and educated DCF attendees on the intricacies of Identity Theft. Wow! Who knew about the million ways our identities are at risk and what we can do to try to stay ahead of the bad guys. Did you know that your hotel key cards, cruise ship id badges, etc all contain your credit card information? Good advice - don't leave your hotel key card on the dresser when you check out. Instead, just take it with you. Also, our affinity clubs (skymiles, etc.) also contain our info and could easily find their way into the wrong hands. Shred your bank and credit card statements. And insurance. And and and. Use only ATM's that are located at banks. No convenience stores, etc., as they are more likely to have bogus scanners and/or people nearby picking up signals via wireless. Never transact on wireless, including calling your bank to check your balance from your cell phone. That's not to say we shouldn't bank on line. Just not on wireless. The list goes one. A very good forum indeed! Thanks to Consumer Credit Counseling Service and GRAFLI for bringing it to us.

2 comments:

Steve Cabouli said...

Let me introduce this new technology-iWallet.This is a wallet which has a biometric fingerprint reader so that only the owner can open it.It can be attached to a PDA or mobile which will produce sound if the phone and wallet are over 30ft away. I hope this will be a great help for you on counteracting id theft.Cash and valuable credit cards are now safe with iWallet.Now your name cant be stolen so easily.

Steve Cabouli said...

Its a good list.There is nothing more than saying BE CAREFUL when giving out the information either over phone, online or written.
If its your wallet we can invest money for a better one like iwallet but there is no other way to safeguard the information if you are giving our without knowing the risk factors.