Identity Theft and Lost/Stolen Checkbooks

Well, this isn't necessarily about investing, but it's related. I recently lost/had stolen my checkbook. I quickly called the bank and froze the account as well as opened a new checking account. In having this happen, it made me realize once again the importance of protecting personal and financial information both electronically and hardcopies. Below are some thoughts on how to be successful in not having your identity or financial information stolen:

• Change passwords regularly for all financial websites. Do not use passwords that are words in the dictionary or common items associated with yourself (e.g., birthday, license plate, etc.). Instead use passwords that contain a combination of both letters and numbers.
• Sign up for a credit reporting service that monitors your credit to see if there have been any pulls against your credit report. I personally use PrivacyGuard right now, which costs around $100/year. That's not an insignificant amount, but it's been well worth it considering the recent missing checkbook and an error that I found in my credit report that was significantly, and adversely, impacting my credit rating.
• Never, never respond to an email that is phishing. Phishers have become much more creative and their emails look more professional lately, so the rule is to never respond to an email asking for account number and password. Instead you should always call or go directly to the companies website to login (i.e., don't follow a link from within an email as it may not go to the stated companies website). Phishing has become so popular that there are now kits available for scammers to quickly create new phishing emails.