Avoiding Identity Fraud The Easy Way

With the shopping season in full swing even though we are experiencing a difficult time across all industry sectors there is one business that is surpassing even the mighty retail giants when it comes to growth, sadly though for many victims the particular industry in question is identity theft.

Combating the risk of identity fraud should be high on everyone’s agenda but some people are still unsure what it actually is. Without putting to fine a point on it, it is literally the theft of your identity both personal and financial. An alias using your identity and financial information could literally drain your accounts and put you into debt into the bargain.

Do you know how easy it is to get a copy of your own or somebody else’s birth certificate? TOO easy!!! Do you routinely shred your bank and credit card statements after processing them?

Well that’s just common sense isn’t it?, but do you also shred all the promotional bumf, special offer balance transfer rates, why not have one of our wonderful credit card pamphlets et al, all of which have your name and address printed on them?

If you bank online and don’t consider any of the above a risk then, you still need to consider your internet usage habits. We have all been educated to not use the same passwords and serial numbers for all our accounts and transaction, but living in the real world we all struggle to remember numerous password and user combinations and tend to use the same one leaving ourselves wide open.

Un-shredded paperwork and internet activity is not the only way an unscrupulous operator will get hold of your information though. With so much information being held on computer hard drives, pen drives and mobile phones sometimes these are areas of easy pickings for the Identity thief or even random opportunist.

Accessing data on a disposed of device or hard drive for example is for the experts far easier than you would imagine if the drive is in working order (and sometimes when its not). Beware not all data recovery companies have the same ethical standards or are actual data recovery labs at all and your old data can be raided in less than 5 minutes if you have not planned correctly and used a reputable business to recover your data for you .

Many people are unaware of the availability of hard drive shredding or secure data disposal services that reputable companies offer. Drives can be literally shredded into tiny pieces or if you are a firm believer in recycling you can arranged for your drive to be securely wiped and certified and the certain components can be used for repair or failed drive re-builds.

To find out more about computer security advice and hard drive disposal call or speak to your local data recovery company . Or visit here for more great Pc, computer and laptop repair help.