of your personal data. In the future, someone had better prove to you why he must have any of your information before you give it to him.
You have to memorize key numbers like PIN numbers and Social Security numbers, rather than carry cards around with you. If you're making a phone call that requires you to convey personal information, don't do it at an open booth where someone can overhear you. Ever more popular cell phones are even more susceptible to eavesdropping, so be especially wary of passing along personal information on a phone.
It makes sense to keep a minimum number of credit cards, so that it's easier to keep track of them. But no matter how many or few you have, make sure you check all of your financial statements carefully. So often we take a quick look at our credit card statements, and if the total seems about right, we just pay the bill and toss the statement aside.
If you don't receive a monthly statement for any account, that could be a tip-off; call immediately and ask about it. If you're notified that your statements are being mailed to another address that you haven't authorized, tell the financial institution what has happened and that someone may have accessed your account. And maintain your own records of your spending. Then if you need to dispute a transaction, your records will support you.
When you order checks, refrain from putting any additional information about yourself - your address, middle name or initial - on them, since checks can be lost or stolen. I'm amazed at how many people put their Social Security number on their checks. You ask them why and they say they do it because they're always asked for the number when they cash a check in the store, so they want to make it easy. Sure, for crooks.
Have your personal information deleted or kept private in listings such as phone books, driver and motor vehicle records, direct marketing solicitation lists, and listings by the major credit reporting bureaus.
When you're traveling, even for brief periods, you should have your mail held at the post office or ask a friend or relative to collect it for you. Mail letters with checks and personal information in them from an office mailbox rather than from your home mailbox. My feeling is the post office ought to ask for ID before granting change of address requests, and they should at least send a card to the current address to confirm the request. Meanwhile, you should write your credit card companies and advise them not to accept any notification of an address change without verifying the change with you.
Don't ever enter unfamiliar contests or sweepstakes, and I'm not crazy about entering even familiar ones. Any information you give to contests or charities may be sold or reproduced in ways you can't imagine. If you get an unsolicited call offering you a credit card or prize but wants personal data like your Social Security number, ask for a written application. If they say they can't do that, hang up. If they do send you an application, look it over carefully and make sure that it's from a recognizable organization.
I recommend that everyone get a shredder. I have one in my house and one in my office, and I shred everything that goes into the wastebasket, no matter how innocuous it seems, but especially everything that contains any personal information about me. I assume what appears unimportant to me could be very important to a criminal. You should assume the same.
And you really have to stay on top of credit agencies, because for the most part, they take what's fed to them and don't verify it. And it's all one-sided. Anyone who's a client can send in something bad about you. But you never get asked about it. That's the biggest problem I have with how they work. They don't get anything from you; they get it all from who you buy stuff from. In addition, my impression is the error rate of these agencies is horrible. My name is Abagnale. That's hard to mess up. But what if your name is Smith or Jones? A problem Joe Smith has may end up on Jim Smith's credit report. And it'll take a Dream Team of lawyers to get it off.
You ought to get your credit report several times a year and thoroughly check it. Michelle Brown told me she gets hers every month. There are services