Data has become the new commercial resource of the information age, replacing oil and steel of the industrial age. However, data is a unique, personal, valuable, appreciating resource that can be copied, stolen and sold undetected.
Corporations have known this and collected our personal data for years, while consumers are just beginning to learn this. For years they have amassed personal data on our medical and commercial transactions, without knowing exactly how they might exploit it for profit, and without our awareness or permission. Now they are learning how to analyze and capitalize on our personal data. The major credit agencies, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union have collected our data, errors and all, and sell access to it to anyone willing to pay for it, with demand defining its price. The ethics of this practice is still poorly understood by our government representatives and ourselves, but in the UK and California, consumers now the the right to have their data access closed upon request.
I believe that your data inherently belongs to you alone. I urge you to write to your representative and tell them you have the inherent right to control the access and use of your own personal data.
Crooks everywhere are looking for naïve consumers online and off to steal their personal data, identity and money, as well as deceive them out of it. Don’t let it be you or your children! Unfortunately, using an identity theft service doesn’t help much to prevent this fraud, but there are many things you can and should do to protect yourself:
- Place a “freeze” (NOT UNLOCK) to your Equifax, Trans Union and Experian accounts. This will prevent anyone from accessing your personal information. However, whenever you want to shop for insurance, you will need to temporarily thaw your credit, so ask the insurance company which of the big three credit agencies they use to check your credit, then temporarily thaw only one agency’s account. Also, check the accuracy of your data in each of the three credit agencies annually.
- Review your credit card statements each month for fraudulent purchases.
- Check you credit report annually for FREE from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You can do this at www.annualcreditreport.com. Look for inaccurate or false information. You have the right to dispute false information.
- Don’t use mobile cash payment apps! These apps are completely unregulated and have absolutely NO security applied to them! Hackers can access your bank account and clean out, not just your account that you have linked to your app, but all accounts you have with the same bank! Not only that, but hackers can also access your bank accounts even if you haven’t installed their app on your phone, if your bank has activated the app from their end! Contact your bank’s tech support team and ask them if they have activated any mobile apps, installed or uninstalled.
- Become a phony! When businesses demand your social security number, they really don’t need it. They just want it on file in case they need to forcefully collect money they believe you owe them. To satisfy this demand, while still protecting your social security number, give them a valid, yet fake social security number! You can locate valid numbers that are not used by anyone. When businesses ask for your birthdate, give them a fake birthdate! Make one up and use it consistently. Memorize it or record it on paper in your home.
- When businesses demand to draft your subscription payments from your bank account, open a new bank savings account dedicated just for this purpose, link it to another account for funding and maintain a tiny amount of cash in it just for this purpose. Then give them this tiny account number and routing number as they demand. Years later, when you want to terminate your subscription and you have trouble terminating it, first send them a certified letter demanding they terminate your subscription. If that doesn’t work, then transfer all of your money out of that tiny account. They can’t siphon water from an empty well.
- Request a new credit card from your credit card company to be issued under an alias name. Celebrities do this all the time to keep their privacy.
- Maintain two credit cards: dedicate one strictly for online purchases and the other strictly for store purchases.
- Stop using debit cards and use credit cards! Debit cards lack sufficient technical security features that credit cards possess.
- Use temporary, one-time, disposable, virtual credit card numbers for risky purchases. Think of virtual card numbers as substitutes for your actual credit card number. The virtual numbers are still linked to your credit card account, but they allow you to use a different number to fill out payment information each time you shop online. The result is that your real credit card is never given to the websites where you shop. Some credit card companies issue a unique virtual card number to you for each website you shop, which can only be used once. And your virtual card number can’t be used to access your account data on your card issuer’s app or website either. Talk to your credit card agent about this security feature.
- Reduce robo calls! Use an app like Nomorobo, Hiya, or Youmail to bock robo phone calls. Also, Some of the big phone companies such as T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon provide some call filtering, shielding and other protections from robo calls, so ask your phone carrier what robo call service they offer.
- When your phone rings, if you don’t recognize the number, don’t answer it. If it’s important, the caller will leave a message.
- Setup text or email notifications with your credit card accounts to alert you whenever unusually large purchases are made.
- Setup a dedicated phone line to direct businesses to. Then give out this junk number to merchants and others who are not personal friends or relatives. Reserve your cell phone number for friends, relatives, and trusted professionals. You can use Ooma for for this for $5 per month.
- Use 10minute mail when you need a disposable email address for temporary use. 10MinuteMail is a secure temporary e-mail service. It allows you have a private e-mail address that anyone can send e-mail to. The e-mail and the address both self-destruct in 10 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about SPAM or anything like that.
- Use Proton mail for private, encrypted messaging. It uses end-to-end encryption and zero access encryption to secure emails. This means no one, including the folks at Proton can decrypt and read your messages. As a result, your encrypted messages cannot be shared with third parties. The best part is, it’s free!
- Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) such as SiteLock to do your online business.
- When making purchases at sites you don’t expect to ever use again, check out as a guest if that option is presented to you. That way, your credit card info is not saved.
- Minimize using paper checks and use credit cards. Credit cards are more secure than paper checks.
- Shred documents containing any personal info on yourself, even if it’s just your name and address. Some banks and credit unions offer public shredding parties, that will mass shred documents for you free of charge.
- Don’t leave personal information in your vehicle.
- Don’t carry your social security card in your wallet.
- When filling out applications and other forms, only provide information in boxes (fields) that are required. Nothing more!
- Use two-factor authentication for financial account logins, that is, two methods for verifying your identity. This might include a password and a security code that is sent to you by text, email or phone.
- Use a strong, cryptic password like the name of a tiny, obscure village you enjoyed on a vacation, followed by a long number such as the zip code of your childhood town or birth year of a grandparent, and change it at least annually. Keep a paper cheat sheet of your passwords at home in a highly secure place. Use a password manager application if necessary.
- When given the option to either slide or insert your credit card into the card reader, ALWAYS choose to insert it, as this is the more secure way to transmit your data.
- When traveling overseas, or (domestic urban areas), bring along a few cheap, dummy wallets and a good money pouch. Store your money in a money pouch around your waist, and place a dummy wallet inside your pant or vest pocket. As each dummy wallet is stolen, replace it with another dummy wallet. Place a cute note in the dummy wallet for the defeated pick-pocketers!
- Don’t store personal data on your cell phone!
- Just say “no thanks” when businesses ask for your email address!
- Use different passwords for different accounts.
- Don’t store personal data in the cloud unless absolutely necessary. Assume that any business or organization can be hacked and your data stolen from them. Instead, backup your data on a local, USB 3.0 flash drive.
- Don’t post any personal data on social media, including birthdates, addresses, dates when you will be on vacation, etc. Crooks search for such data in social media.
- Don’t click on any email messages from unfamiliar senders! Delete them immediately without opening them!
- Don’t respond to any messages prompting you to contact them using a link or phone number provided by them! If in doubt, log in to your account using your own links, not the links they’ve conveniently provided to you!
- Boost your credit score by maintaining 2-3 credit cards and borrowing less than 33% on each of them. Also, by paying your bills a few days to a week early, your credit score will boost. If you no longer use a credit card, don’t close the account, as it will hurt your credit score! Rather, maintain it by setting up one or more regular, recurring charges on it, place it in a zip-lock bag and store it in your freezer! Then, if you need to access it, just thaw it and use it. Just don’t forget to retrieve it when you get rid of your frig!
- Don’t dispose of your old electronic devices before wiping them clean of all data!
- Educate your children, parents and grandparents on securing their data and not speaking to strangers on the phone.
- Write to your state representative, demanding your right to privacy and to be forgotten when closing an account, as Californians and the Brits across the pond now have.
For more tips, go to https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2010/07/protect-your-identity/index.htm