Total identity protection is impossible. Once your social security number and contact details have been inputted into a bank computer for example, you have no control over its safety from that point on. There are ways however of minimising the risk to you and your family. If you cultivate good security habits, your identity will be safer and it needn’t affect your attitude towards the people around you. There are various different types of identity theft. Mostly, it is the use of a stolen name and social security number to obtain credit, goods or services. By having a good handle on your credit cards and bank balances and checking them at least once a week, you will immediately detect if something strange is going on. Online fraud is covered extensively on all banking and government websites. Take the time to familiarise yourself with good security practices to avoid being a victim of phishing. Also, avoid putting any personal data on open, social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace. Finally, pay careful attention to the paperwork that you throw into your rubbish bin. Bank and utility bills and statements often contain your name, address, contact information and social security number. That’s not even to mention your account details and existing balance. Information like this is gold to an identity thief, who will not be above “dumpster-diving” to obtain it. Invest in a shredder or start exploring the exiting applications of paper pulp in your home.

The facts are quite clear and the current rising statistics speak for themselves. Avoiding identity theft completely is simply not possible. At some point in your daily dealings you will need to fill in a form at a doctors’ office, open a bank account or complete a service agreement or contract. That’s not including the various amounts of loans, mortgages, credit cards and car finance contracts that most of us enter into. For legal reasons, these institutions require your information in order to identify you as the responsible party. Once your information enters their database, you no longer have control over its progress through the system or security. What makes total avoidance of identity theft and similar types of fraud even more unlikely are the various legal practices of selling information. When a company decides to sell its debt, it makes an agreement with a “collection company” who is willing to purchase your contract at say, 75c to the dollar. This means that the original company makes a bit of a loss, but doesn’t have to go through the hassle of trying to recoup the money from you. Now company number two has all your relevant information including name, social security number, contact details, physical address and annual salary. Legally speaking they only use this information to send you letters and make contact with you to try and make a profit on their purchase. The grey area comes when company two is finished with your information. Let’s say that you have finally paid them and completed your financial obligations. Do they erase you from their database? The sad thing is they don’t. Information like this is valuable and many companies, even legitimate ones seem reluctant to part with such a large amount of data including interesting titbits, like your annual salary. After all, this information can be extremely useful to a marketing company. Enter company number 3 who, once again, completely legitimately purchases the database from the collections agency. The information they have is only used for market research (i.e. how much do men between the ages of 35 and 45 make annually). They won’t erase your information either, they will sell it again, and so, your personal details will be passed from hand to hand until you get phone calls from telemarketers for newspaper subscriptions and insurance. It is important to remember that none of these practices are necessarily illegal. All of these companies have merely used your information in the interests of commerce. What is disturbing though is the fact that this information is archived on systems that may be more vulnerable to hacking than bank or government databases are. It is important to do your best to protect personally identifiable information in your own capacity. The real protection however, will come when legislation catches up with the size of the problem.