How to Protect Your Identity from Theft

• Guard your identity. Keep bank account numbers, PIN's, Social Security numbers out of your purse and wallet.
• Keep your checkbook, banking and health care information in a secured location.
• Never dump documents with personally identifiable information in the trash. Obtain a shredder that cross shreds documents and purchase receipts when no longer needed and use it to destroy records.
• Carefully review your financial statements on a monthly basis and report irregularities immediately.
• Don't put paid bills with checks inside your mailbox for postal pickup.
• Be aware of other people and your surroundings when completing forms requesting your personal information. Protect your personal identification number (PIN) when using your ATM Debit card.
• Add a personal statement to your credit report stating they need to contact you for approval prior to granting credit.
• Try to use unique and unobvious passwords for your PINs, account passwords, etc. A strong password contains digits, letters and special characters (e.g., #,@,%), and both lower case and upper case letters.

Consumers can test their knowledge about protecting their personal information and responding if their identity is stolen. The new quiz, available at www.onguardonline.gov/quiz, asks questions about getting a free credit report, using smart passwords, taking the right steps after an identity theft incident, and other topics.

If you suspect you have become a victim of ID Theft learn 3 important steps to follow (click here).