Pat’s Patter

 

Technology is dominated by two kinds of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.

 

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

Financial Secretary’s Page

What’s in YOUR Wallet?”… and how to safeguard it!

 

“What’s in YOUR Wallet?” It’s the tag line of a popular advertising campaign.  It’s also precisely what identity thieves want to know about you.

 

Given the current economic climate, the importance of protecting yourself against identity theft cannot be overstated.  Perhaps the most pernicious curse of modern information technology is the ease with which identity thieves are able to craft more insidious and ingenious methods of invading your financial privacy.  If there is a chink in your informational armor, they can and will use any means necessary to exploit it, at your expense! Being proactive with regard to your personal information will help you to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. Here are some steps everyone should take (the list is by no means exhaustive):

 

· If you do online banking or credit card transactions from your computer(s), make sure that you do so from SECURE SITES and that you have a good FIREWALL in place.  Be judicious in the use of passwords; the more complex the password, the more difficult it will be to crack.

 

· If you are not already doing so, get into the habit of checking your BANK STATEMENTS and CREDIT CARD STATEMENTS on a monthly basis.  If you see anything unusual or inexplicable, contact the institution immediately.  This way, if someone has compromised your account and is using it, the damage can be minimized.  Most banking and credit card companies will alert you if they detect a pattern of transactions that is out of the ordinary.  If they do not, you should contact them and ask why not.  If they cannot give you a satisfactory answer, you should consider switching to those who do.  Additionally, banks and credit card companies are not infallible.  They do make mistakes and the sooner errors are detected, the better.

 

· Check your CREDIT SCORE yearly.  Get reports from all three agencies and compare the data. If you see something that you do not recognize or that you know should not be there, take the appropriate steps to have it removed from your record. 

 

· NEVER give out personal information (e.g., social security number, driver’s license number, account numbers) to anyone over the phone or online unless absolutely necessary.  “Social engineering” is another way in which identity thieves can gain access to your assets.

 

If you’re already taking these steps, I apologize for preaching to the choir. If not, consider this; you’ve worked hard for what you have in this world.  Why make it easy for someone else to find out what’s in YOUR wallet?

 

Bob Borch

 

The degree to which you overreact to information will be inversely proportional to its accuracy.

 

If at first you don’t succeed, shouldn’t you try doing it like your wife told you to do it?