Privacy Tips - Your Identity Is A Puzzle That’s Halfway Solved
These days sharing your personal information has become a routine: you get up, brush your teeth, have your breakfast, and then apply for a credit card, buy gasoline, order a gift for your mom online, register for sweepstakes, donate to a charity, and etc.
We all share our personal information, often without realizing it.Here are some tips that will help you guide your privacy and safety.Guard your financial or other account information. Don’t provide it to anyone unless there is a legitimate reason to do so as part of a transaction.Do not print your phone number on your personal checks.
Companies often get your number and address from personal checks.Do not give your real address and phone number when registering on websites, making a purchase online and offline, or elsewhere whenever possible. Some companies ask for your phone number at a register. Refuse to give it or give them a made up number. Later you can always ask the company to “update” your information.
When making a purchase or registering online carefully read the sign up forms. Most of them will let you decline any additional marketing contacts from the company and its affiliates.Be careful what you sign. Companies can also contact you with your written permission, so look at contracts, order forms, contest entry forms, and other things you sign carefully to make sure you’re not agreeing to be contacted without realizing it.Register your phone number with the National Do Not Call List. If you are receiving calls from telemarketers, then add your phone number to the Do Not Call List. The Federal government created the national registry in 2003 to make it easier and more efficient for you to stop getting telemarketing calls you don?t want.Use Caller Id blocking when returning strange calls.
Caller ID Blocking per call allows you to prevent the transmission of your telephone number on outgoing calls. This feature will prevent your telephone number from being displayed on Caller ID equipment or announced to customers who subscribe to Call Return. It comes free with your phone service.To block your phone number or name from appearing on a recipient’s Caller ID unit on a single phone call, dial *67 before dialing the phone number. Your number ordinarily will not be sent to the other party. (See exceptions below.) But you must redial *67 each time you place another call. Use it when calling companies you don’t have any business with.Exceptions: 800 number/toll-free calls. You are not able to prevent the display of your phone number when you call 800, 866, 877, 888, and 900 numbers. The called party, which pays for the call, may be able to identify your phone number using Automatic Number Identification (ANI) technology.Never buy anything over the phone if you are the one who is being called. If you are interested in what the caller is offering ask them to send you information via mail.Opt-out of pre-screened credit offers.
If you would like to reduce the number of pre-screened credit and insurance offers you are receiving, visit www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5OptOut (1-888-567-86 to opt-out of these offers. This is a free service to consumers offered by the major credit bureaus.Know who you’re dealing with. Do business with companies you know and trust. If a company or charity is unfamiliar, check it out with your state or local consumer agency and the Better Business Bureau. Fraudulent operators open and close quickly, so the fact that no one has made a complaint yet doesn’t guarantee the company or charity is legitimate. Also search internet for this company name. You might find people’s comments about their experience with this organization.Beware of tricks scam artists use. They might ask you to act immediately; scare you into acting now, pretend to be from companies you do business with and ask you to verify personal information they should already have.
Always contact the company directly to confirm before providing information.Again, never pay over the phone if you are the one who is receiving the call. If you do decide to take the risk, use your credit card. If you pay for a transaction with cash, checks, or money orders, your money is gone before you realize there is a problem. Paying by credit card is safest because you can dispute the charges if you don’t get what you were promised.
Check all bills and invoices carefully. It’s hard to get your money back once you’ve paid it to a con artist.Shred documents with personal and sensitive information prior to their disposal. Never enter contests that require your phone number. This is one of many ways that the telemarketers use to get your name address and phone number.Remember that most of your “personal information” is available to the “public”.
Many people get caught off guard when they see how much information a scam artist has on them. This volume of information makes them believe that they are speaking to a legitimate business. And this is exactly what scam artists want. Public records, yellow pages, directory assistance together with information from your receipts, subscriptions, online registrations and personal checks give them plenty of data to work with. The only reason they contact you is because they are missing a few crucial pieces of information. Don?t give them that.
Overall, your identity is a puzzle that’s halfway solved. The fewer number of pieces you give out, the safer you are.800Notes is a user-supported database of unlisted phone numbers used by telemarketers, scam artists, collection agencies, and other organizations that make unwanted calls. Just enter the number that called you into the search field and read what other people are reporting about the caller, share your speculations and comments.
Article source is here.
Reads: 698 | Today: 2 | Last: 06.02.2012 - 05:20
