Criminals can gather enough information about you through the debris of everyday electronic transactions to pretend that they are you.  Once this happens, they can gain access and even control of all your financial information.  To help prevent this from happening to you:

• Don't give out your Social Security Number.
• Tear into pieces, or cross-cut shred, all credit card offers, ATM recipts, bank statements and other printed financial data that have your account numbers on them.
• Don't send personal information over the internet, through e-mail, or over cellular phones.
• Don't use passwords or PIN numbers that are obvious names (yours, your friends, relatives, or pets), birth date, even street addresses, zip codes, or phone numbers.  The best passwords mix numbers with upper and lower case letters.  A password that is not found in the dictionary is especially good.
• Avoid break-ins by changing your password regularly and memorizing it.  Don't write your password or PIN down.
• When using an ATM machine, be aware of others waiting behind you- position yourself in front of the keyboard to prevent anyone from seeing your PIN.
• Give your credit card number out to make a purchase or reservation only when you initiated the call. Never give this information over a cell phone.
• Watch your credit card when in the hands of store clerks to insure against their making extra imprints.
• Save and cross-cut-shred any carbon papers from receipts, don't merely throw them in the trash.  Keep actual charge slips in a safe place.
• Keep a master list of all your card and account numbers along with phone numbers for reporting them lost or stolen in a secure place.
• Immediately report lost or stolen cards to the issuing company.