Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Safely
Popular New Year’s Resolutions can leave you vulnerable to identity theft. Learn to keep your information and belongings safe during your journey of self improvement by following these tips in 2018:
Get in Shape
- Use discretion with gym applications. Don’t give more personal information than necessary.
- Watch for theft. Pick a locker in a busy area and bring a strong lock.
Improve Finances
- Pull your credit reports. Get a free copy at annualcreditreport.com
- Create new, unique passwords for banks and email. Use a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Don’t use your bank password anywhere else.
- Set up a password manager. Memorize one master password and the let the app secure all of the others.
- Consider identity management. These services are the best way to monitor, catch and resolve identity theft and fraud.
Travel More
- See the world, but don’t let the world see that you’re out of town. Don’t share travel photos or updates on social media.
- When exploring new cities, keep your credit cards and identification secure from pick pockets.
Donate Safely
- Check out charities before donating. Watch for scams.
- Don’t let strangers come to your house. Giving away items on Craigslist isn’t recommended, but if you do it, meet at a public place.
- Wipe electronics of personal information. If donating computers, erase and reformat hard drives. Do a factory default resent on phones or tablets.
Get Organized
- Shred personal documents. Shred anything with personal identifying information, including bank statements.
- Update antivirus and malware protection software, and keep your operating system updated.
- Back up your hard drive. A backup can save the day in a ransomware attack.
These tips on identity theft are brought to you by CyberScout – a premium service provided to our insureds for FREE. Click here to learn more about how Farm Bureau Insurance provides ongoing Identity Fraud protection to our members.