Easy Tips to Protect Your Identity

Identity thieves and scammers often target older individuals due to their assumptions that they may be easy targets. However, there are many ways that you can protect yourself from these criminals and make sure that your identity is safe.

Use a shredder to protect your information.

Thieves can gain access to your personal information just by digging around the trash in your home. Protect yourself by investing in a shredding machine (a “micro-cut” shredder may be a good choice). Any bills, receipts, bank statements, and even prescription labels should be thoroughly to protect yourself and your information.

Change your online passwords every couple of months.

Take the time every couple of months to change your password to online accounts such as bank, Paypal, email or anything else that may contain sensitive information. When creating the password, mix up letters, numbers and symbols so that it would be difficult for hackers to gain access to your password. It has been reported that “Password” has been consistently one of the more popular password to use, and an easy guess for many hackers. Using “P@s5w0rD!” would probably be a better option for you!

Check your credit report semi-annually.

How often do you check your credit report a year? Studies have shown that most individuals check it once a year or less. It is important to have semi-annual checks on your account to look for suspicious activity on your report.

Mind your online “social” identity.

In the age of Facebook and other social media networks, people tend to overshare little details in their personal lives, which may lead scammers to gaining information that may help their cause. Knowing names of extended family members, pets or hometown high school can be little details that can open up many of your accounts to these hackers.

Take a few minutes each day to check your money.

One of the easiest ways to protect yourself from identity theft/scammers is to do a daily check-up on your bank accounts. This way you can identify unexpected or fraudulent transactions on your accounts when it occurs.

ReverseMortgage-Blog.com provides senior homeowners information on the reverse mortgage product, reverse mortgage news, and senior lifestyle tips. If you are interested in a reverse mortgage and how it can help you, you can contact a Senior Advisor at 1-888-808-8486.

Image courtesy of [Salvatore Vuono] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net