A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead offirst name) and last name put on them. If someone takes yourcheckbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just yourinitials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign yourchecks.2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DONOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, justput the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest ofthe number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passesthrough all the check-processing channels will not have access to it.4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. Ifyou have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you donot have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printedon your checks, (DUH!). You can add it if it is necessary. However, ifyou have it printed, anyone can get it.5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do bothsides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had inyour wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to calland cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also carry a photocopyof your passport when traveling either here or abroad. We have allheard horror stories about fraud that is committed on us in stealing aname, address, Social Security number, credit cards.6. When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for keys (and theyall seem to do that now), do not turn the 'keys' in! Take them withyou and destroy them. Those little cards have on them all of theinformation you gave the hotel, including address and credit cardnumbers and expiration dates. Someone with a card reader, or employeeof the hotel, can access all that information with no problemwhatsoever.Unfortunately, as an attorney, I have first hand knowledge because mywallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered anexpensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card,had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer and received aPIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online.Here is some critical information to limit the damage in case thishappens to you or someone you know:1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.The key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy soyou know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where yourcredit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers youwere diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (ifthere ever is one). However, here is what is perhaps most important ofall (I never even thought to do this.)3. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediatelyto place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I hadnever heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tellme an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.The alert means any company that checks your credit knows yourinformation was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone toauthorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost twoweeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are recordsof all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none ofwhich I knew about before placing the alert . Since then, noadditional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet awaythis weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped themdead in their tracks.Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your walletand contents being stolen:1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-62852.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-37423.) TransUnion: 1-800-680-72894.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just abouteverything. Nevertheless, if you are willing to pass this informationalong, it could really help someone about whom you care about.
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