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Do You Know What's in Your
Wallet or Purse?
If you lose it,
your money and credit cards may not be your
biggest problem!
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According to the FBI, “a wallet or purse
is the most concentrated place that your personal
identification is stored and therefore is the most vulnerable
asset that you have.” |
The following is from the book Credit
Alert! How to reduce your risk for Identity Theft.
So, what is the Big Deal about personal identification?
Most of us carry credit cards, ATM cards, a driver’s license and
a variety of other personal identification documents. Combine this with
business cards, family pictures and an emergency notification card and
you have an accurate description of an individual, for example your
name, address, birth date, physical description, job title, spouse’s
name, driver’s license, insurance information and in most cases
your Social Security Number.
Most people don't know all of the items
that they carry!
What a headache, trying to remember what needs to be replaced and reconstructing
all of these documents. This task can take several weeks or even months
to accomplish.
Let me show you what is involved.
- File a police report.
- Cancel each credit and charge card
- Report missing cards to the major credit reporting agencies
- Ask them to flag your accounts as a Credit
Alert
- Report the loss to your bank – close checking, ATM and savings
accounts
- Report missing driver's license to the State
- And other steps as required
You must act quickly because the person who found
or stole your identification data has a free
hand in how they use your personal identification data. "In the
wrong hands, your ATM number
can drain you bank account, but a thief with your personal identification
can wreck your life!"
You don't realize it yet, but in the next few minutes
you are going to learn some simple
techniques to stop Identity Bandits from making you their next victim.
Use the results of the following exercise as a checklist
to teach you how to reduce your risks as
well as provide a detailed record of what you need to replace if your
wallet or purse is ever lost
or stolen.
Please complete all 4 steps.
Copyright © 2002, West Michigan Computer
Exchange, Inc.
You have permission to post this, email this, print this and pass it
along for free to anyone you like, as long as you make no changes or
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Contact data:
mtumanis@iserv.net
Phone: (616) 731-4066
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