Top Tips

In order to prevent yourselves becoming “victims” of scams and identity theft, below are the top tips to keeping your identity safe and secure.

1. Shred all material that you are disposing of that has any of your personal details on. This will prevent anyone from going through your rubbish and claiming your identity for fraudulent purposes.

2. Change your passwords frequently. I recommend that you change your passwords at least once a month. this is particularly important if you have an online bank account or tend to buy products from the Internet.

3. Be very wary of any e-mails from banks, government agencies or any other service that is requesting personal details to confirm your identity such as your personal bank details, user names or passwords. Any legitimate business will not ask you for these details.

4. Remember to update your firewall and Internet security software. This is to prevent any spyware programs from collecting any of your personal details. Only download software from sites you know and trust.

5. In a shop or anywhere else you use your credit card be very wary of the salesperson asking to swipe your credit card twice. The first time they swipe it, they may be using a device not intended for the shop but merely to capture your credit card details. The second swipe could be for the legitimate purchase you have just bought.

6. On social network or community sites never post your personal information as this can be seen and used for fraudulent purposes. Young people are at risk the most from this. They tend to give out their full names, personal home address, date of birth etc. Please do not ever give out such information on social networking sites.