With all the focus as of late on online fraud, people tend to forget that identity thieves can still operate in low key ways as well. This happened to Brooke Harper of South Hutchinson, Kansas. Someone decided to pose as her simply by using her paper checks. Harper told KWCH News, “I don’t even carry checks on me anymore so I don’t know how [the thief] got a hold of my checks.”
A representative of the local police department stated that reactions like this one are not uncommon. People often neglect to safeguard items, like checks, that they rarely think about anymore thanks to the fact that pretty much everything is electronic now. Don’t lax on protecting yourself on paper. It could come back to bite you in the end. Not all thieves are high tech cyber hackers. Some still operate simply, by snatching purses and swiping telephone bills.
In addition to always knowing where your paper checks are – since they contain your bank account information, your name, your address, and possibly your Social Security number – you should make sure thieves can never access your sensitive details when you receive account statements in the mail or when you throw them out or recycle them. Be careful even with statements that you may feel are insignificant. You could be surprised how much a thief can glean just with the tiniest speck of information, like a birth date, as a starting point. This is especially true if the personnel at businesses you patronage is not too stringent about information security.
The best thing to do to keep your identity safe in print fashion is to invest in a cross cutting shredder and shred everything that puts you in question even for a minute. There’s no harm in shredding things you really don’t need to, but the same can’t be said for the other way around. And, if you prefer to bank on the computer anyway, sign up for electronic bills and electronic statements. Most times, when you decide you want these items online instead of on paper, you’ll automatically stop receiving them in the mail, but sometimes you have to specifically request to have your paper statements stopped. Make sure to find this out from your financial institution or the company who’s sending you the bills.
Upon finding out that she was a victim of identity theft, Harper had this to say,” The people that do this don’t seem to realize it’s not just a name on a check; you’re messing with somebody’s life.” There is really no better advertisement for an identity theft protection service.