Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft: Rethink Your Street-Side Mailbox…
Identity theft is one of the most serious forms of crime today. Indeed, statistically speaking you have a more than one in ten chance of becoming the victim of identity theft this year alone. Keeping in mind that not even children are immune from becoming the victims of identity theft in this day and age, odds are strong that you will become a victim of identity theft not once but upwards to eight or nine separate times during the course of your lifetime. With these startling statistics in mind, it is important for you to take any and all legitimate steps possible to protect yourself from falling victim to identity theft.
In this day and age, a significant number of people still maintain unsecured mailboxes, many of which are located on posts on the curb … many feet away from the residence itself. The reality is that these types of unsecured, curbside mailboxes are prime targets for people who are intent on committing the crime of identity theft.
One of the more common ways in which a criminal intent on committing the crime of identity theft is able to get the information he or she needs is through the theft of mail. On a regular basis, if you are like most people, you receive a significant amount of materials through the mail that contains significant financial and personal data. Through the mail you could very well receive bank statements, credit card statements, employment related information … the list literally goes on and on.
All of this information is very useful to an identity thief. Indeed, armed with the materials that can be stolen from your mail, an identity theft can have a hold of all that he or she needs in no time at all to steal your identity.
Understanding this reality, if you want to better protect yourself against identity theft, you need to do away with the easily accessible, unlocked and unsecured mailbox at the curb. You want to replace it either by having a mailbox installed into your residence through which the mail actually drops through and into the house. In the alternative, you want to purchase and have installed a completely secured mailbox outside (but near) the residence that is completely secured. In the end, the days of the unsecured mailbox at the curb are over. Your financial and personal safety depends on your abandoning this type of mailbox once and for all.
identity theft protection, mailbox identity theft, prevent identity theft, secure your mailbox
August 27th, 2008 at 1:35 am
I never thought that my mailbox is one of the few sources in making myself a victim of identity theft. The longer I get my mails exposed in my mailbox, the more prone I am to becoming a victim myself. I’ve realized further that nothing or no one is completely safe nowadays. Even the Internet has criminals (or frauds, thieves) that will steal our personal information when given the opportunity. We just have to be very, extra careful in everything we do.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:43 am
I am receiving credit card bills, phone bills, and electric bills monthly, and the mailman just drop it on our mailbox. I wasn’t aware of this so-called identity theft, although I’ve heard a lot about it. I thought only those who were millionaires were victimized by these thieves but I have just heard a news, that these thieves were not only after the money but also with your identity. They were pretending as a common person and use your identity for them to commit crimes. This is very bad, we really have to be aware of this.