Protect your identity by eliminating paper trails

Paper cuts aren’t the only time paper can be harmful. Identity
thieves are getting more and more creative with today’s scams
but some of the most common occurring practices are still
happening through social engineering, mail theft, and paper
trails containing personal/sensitive data that is neglected and
left behind or thrown away. Social engineering is the method
of influencing or tricking a victim into giving up sensitive
information. Often times, the targets are those who a thief has
some pieces of information already collected.

Your probability of being subjected to identity theft is directly
related to the efforts you take to minimize risk. A single piece of
mail may seem harmless, not containing anything too sensitive
or valuable, but it could be the missing piece someone needs to
access an account or impersonate you. As a rule of thumb, any
mail or paper that has any piece of your information should be
disposed of in a secured fashion such as a paper shredder.
With enough pieces of the right information, the impact and
ease of identity theft is compounded. A thief can begin to divert
some or all of your mail using a change of address. Upon
collecting pieces of your mail, your information becomes
compromised and the thief starts to access your accounts leading
to uncovering even more data, or begin impersonating you for
financial gain.

Thieves can also attempt phishing for information by claiming
you are entitled to something free or have money to claim. One
example is a piece of mail you may receive pertaining to a
class action lawsuit of a popular product or device. This may
claim to award some money and only requires filling out a
small questionnaire asking sometimes seemingly harmless
information. Some have even reported fake class action lawsuit
forms that attempt to trick you by asking for your bank account
information to be able to draft your earnings directly into your
account.

One effective way of minimizing risk is to minimize or eliminate
as many paper trails as possible and administer all of your data
sensitive services online. Through this method, you can manage
and change your passwords regularly and eliminate unwanted
sensitive mail from being sent which can be intercepted before
it even hits your mailbox. With some modern devices, you can
even establish a PIN based entry or fingerprint authentication
when signing into online services to provide an extra layer of
protection beyond the standard username / password required
to use the device.

The best way to eliminate the industry of scamming is to
be vigilant and take all possible precautions to keep your
information safe.