It’s no secret that identity theft can cause a consumer a lot of problems. He has to contact creditors to report the crime and change his or her account information, she has to try to get the money back that the thief has spent, and he has to work with the authorities to try to catch the criminal.
All of these things cost the victim time, and invariably money too. But there is another cost that the victim has to bear. That is an emotional one. When people think of identity theft, their thoughts often turn to the money lost, but it is not the only thing they worry about.
A Harris interactive poll came out with the following results, which you may find surprising:
*Over 50 percent of respondents said they would be more concerned with the emotional impact of ID theft than with the time and money issues.
*Approximately 75 percent said they would worry about who had access to their information.
*About 65 percent said that they would worry about being victimized repeatedly.
*About 56 percent said that they would worry that the thief knew their home address.
All of these concerns are completely understandable, since people feel very close to their personal information. Identity theft is a violation of trust just as much as it is a violation of the bank account. Instead of being afraid of identity theft happening to you in the future, it’s important to take control. Working to prevent it can help assuage some of the fear.
There are a lot of simple actions that can help, such as the following:
*Be careful when getting rid of papers that have personal information on them. Shred them or cross out the information, making sure it cannot be read.
*Log off of your accounts after you access them on the computer. Do not stay signed in, even if you’re stepping away for just a couple minutes.
*Never respond to unsolicited emails, no matter how much you think they’re real or how worried you are as to what will happen if you don’t. Call the company instead.
*Don’t use passwords that people can easily guess, even on accounts that don’t contain sensitive information. This is just inviting thieves to try to be you.
*Mail anything that contains personal information besides your return address in a locked mailbox or at the post office.
*Keep up with antivirus software. Make sure you have the latest updates on your machine at all times. Only get this software from a reputable company. Don’t download it from any old site on the Internet.
*Get an identity theft protection policy. Even if you don’t end up needing it, it will help you get back your peace of mind.
Over 10 million Americans were victimized by identity thieves in 2009. It’s a good bet that many of them did not take all of the necessary precautions to protect themselves. Do not be one of these people. It is not worth all of the aggravation, or the time or money.