Everyone talks about identity theft, but not many people can tell you what to do about it. Most people I’ve talked to say the Internet is to blame. But my investigators deal with numerous identity theft cases each month, and in reviewing them, I found that few originated on the Internet. That got me thinking, so to coin a phrase from my 10-year-old grandson, I had to “Marinate it.” He always says that when he’s thinking about something, he’s marinating it. I have learned not to ask! Plus, like all good managers, I’ve learned to delegate most of my tasks, and that can free me up for more important things like research and naps, of course.
My point is that you have to know how the enemy thinks before attacking him.

So I set out on my search and found some interesting facts. It seems that the bulk of identity theft, 30%, comes from lost or stolen credit cards, checkbooks, and wallets. The next largest percentage, 15%, is stolen from your home by friends, relatives, and guests of your children—now that was a surprise. Another 15% for corrupt store personnel or our own employees. 8% is stolen from our mailboxes and fake forwarding address change forms. (I always wondered about the forms) 6% is stolen from Financial Institutions. Only 5% is stolen from Spy-ware or Hackers. “Phishing”, where someone sends you an email pretending to be your bank, is only 3%, with 1% coming from our junk and less than ½% coming from online computer transactions.

Well now I know who I’m fighting and now I can tell my clients how to defend themselves. Using my “Johnny Six” techniques

01. Open a checking account and get a new debit card, just keep the minimum balance on it. Before going out to dinner or buying an item on the internet, simply transfer the amount you are going to spend. Even the bad guys can’t spend money that isn’t there if they are using your card it will be declined.

02. My wife and I went to the store and bought a shredder. I found it for $25.99, but since I’m now making a little more money in my old age, I bought the biggest one for $49.99, it even chews up credit cards. Use it folks, it can prevent you from being a victim, destroy anything with an account number, credit card number, license number, or social security number.

03. Stop using your mailbox and buy a small PO Box, they are much safer.

04. Take your bills to work and mail them from the office or even a mailbox, just stop mailing letters from home. Look, now we’re making the bad guys work harder and they’re going to find an easier target.

05. Never conduct business on your computer using an analog (phone) line, go out and get cable or satellite, they are safer.

06. Finally, just use common sense in evaluating your employees and housing contractors. Keep a mailbox and keep all mail away from prying eyes. On the back of all your credit cards, write please verify identification instead of your signature. When you receive a check from someone, write it for deposit only on the back immediately.

As my grandson says; “Time to stop marinating and start cooking dad” I just don’t know where he gets these things. By the way, don’t worry, Sprout will keep marinating this for even more ways to protect us.

Good luck and remember “FEAR NO EVIL”

John L. Snider Sr can be contacted at his website www/silentprotocol.com or [email protected]