From Bankrate.com - Five tips on how to avoid identity theft

Five tips on how to avoid identity theft. We’ve had it happen to us and can testify how it affects your life.

“Everyone makes mistakes. After all, it's only human to goof up now and then. But if you want to protect yourself from identity theft and other financial scams, you need to play it safe, be smart and avoid simple mistakes that can expose your financial data and identity to fraudsters.”

Here are the five tips:

1. “Never carry a Social Security card, whether it's your own or your spouse's, parent's, child's or other family member's, in your wallet.”

While there’s no doubt you'll need your SS number to apply for a job, get a mortgage “most people don't need to give out their Social Security number on a day-to-day basis.”

"Another tip: Don't write a Social Security number on a scrap of paper and carry that in your wallet instead of a Social Security card. If your wallet is lost or stolen, a person of criminal intent can easily guess what those nine digits are.”

2. Don’t yak on a cell phone in public.

“Elevators, public streets, restaurants, airport terminals -- these are but a few of the public places where Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, says a private conversation on a cell phone can be easily overheard by someone who can memorize or write down any financial information that's disclosed.”

3. Be wary of Internet friends.

“[N]ot all of the people you may encounter are who they say they are. Some of them are scammers on the prowl for information.”

"You share where you were born and when you were born, now I know where to get your birth certificate," Foley says. "I can take that and get a duplicate Social Security card and with that I can get a driver's license and with that I can get a passport and with that I can travel anywhere and be you as much as I want."

4. Keep financial information off of your resume.

Posting your resume on line?

“Never put your Social Security number, birth date, place of birth or other financial information on your resume. Be wary of scams that use e-mail messages -- "We loved your resume, and we need your Social Security number to do a background check so we can hire you," is one example -- to prey on unemployed people.”

5. Pass up that free offer in exchange for personal information.

"Be suspicious of offers that seem too good to be true, regardless of how or where they're presented. That free T-shirt may be a lure to entice you to fill out an application for a credit card that doesn't exist. Once you complete the application and get the T-shirt, those data are out of your control.”

You can read the full article on Bankrate.com.

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