When was the last time you ran a self background check?
Growing up as a kid, my dad was a big advocate of protecting one’s identity. He always instructed me to shred my personal information and advised me against leaving my wallet in a vehicle in plain sight.
Compiled by: Esther Diemer – Fullidentity.com – 214.331.2551
I, alternatively, was a poster child for carelessness: leaving my purse unattended within the locker room and my mail available just begging for a person to walk away with it. Within my naiveté, I felt like my dad was “too” careful. I had been only a teenager and who was going to take my information? I had no credit and extremely little money. Two decades later, I realize that it is amazing and a miracle there are not ten unidentified mortgages or outstanding credit cards in my name, which is just considering how careless I was with paper in my late teen years! Go forward towards the era we are in now, where smart phones support the information that makes up our entire lives and we cannot function without our laptops. There exists numerous approaches to steal one’s identity and now we really cannot be too careful.
Research conducted recently reveals that 1 in 6 individuals were victim to id theft last year! Only 28% of those were victims of financial identity fraud, the easiest to mend. The other 72% were medical, drivers license, social security and character/criminal identity fraud. Further studies show that the average person doesn’t know their identity has been stolen for two to three years. Exactly how should we avoid becoming part of this scary statistic? I for starters, am now just as careful, or more so, than dad is with information that is personal. I shred absolutely everything, however I have also taken it a measure further by periodically conducting a background check on myself. Running a “Self Background Check” can ensure that information that is personal is current, accurate, and secure. I have found there are several background check products from a comprehensive Instant Criminal Background Check that also includes SSN validation, Name & Address History, even all known aliases, to a Credit and Driving report. Currently, one can not be too careful and also I for one would rather be “overly cautious” than be one of the victims of this ever growing crime!
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