Tip 3: Protect Personal DocumentsIt is vital that we all learn to protect personal documents. The reality is that most crime is not carried out by 'professionals' but rather by an opportunist. Identity theft is actually no different. Studies show that a significant proportion of identity theft is carried out by people that know the victim. These people are often family or close friends! It is not the point of this site to tell you that you should immediately stop trusting your son / daughter / cousin / friend / whoever, but rather that an ID fraudster could be anyone. Research seems to suggest that the opportunist fraudster will actually only make off with a small amount of your money. It may be that they find a cash or credit card on the kitchen table and can make a very educated guess as to your pin number. One or two transactions later, the card is destroyed in the hope that they will not be caught. Other parts of this site will show just how organised and ruthless a professional identity thief is in comparison. Doing more to protect personal documents has other benefits too. Should you be unfortunate enough to be burgled, having a collection of vital bills and statements on display will be too tempting for a thief to pass. These days, every criminal must know that genuine documents are worth more than the cash and possessions that they steal. Even if the documents are not used by the burglar, but sold on to another criminal, they are still of great value. To properly protect personal documents, it might be wise to purchase and use a safe. This may sound like overkill or paranoia, but vital paperwork is unlikely to be lost from such a place. Alternatively, using a well ordered filing system and keeping the documents in a not too obvious location should be enough. Remember, this is all about protecting against an opportunist. An opportunist is unlikely to go searching for information, instead, they find it just lying around unattended. An old English saying fits perfectly here, 'Out of sight, out of mind'. The documents that need to be secured are the usual ones which are always discussed: bank statements, credit card or loan statements, utility bills, identity papers, passport, social security information, etc, and any legal documents such as Marriage Certificates, Last Will and Testament or a
Promissory Note
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