In the U.S. folks are fast approaching "tax day" which I understand to be the second heaviest mail day of the year.  The first heaviest is the last day before Christmas that packages and cards can get to family domestically at standard rates.

At tax time people make lots of photocopies.  Often of W2s, 990s, and so on.  Each of these documents contains your name, address, and social security number.

These days most photocopiers contain a hard drive.  When you take a photocopy, the image can be left on that hard drive.  It is the reason a photocopier can scan many pages in a short period of time and then start the copy process.

Would be identity thieves LOVE cheques.  There are several reasons for this.

1. You can purchase cheque blanks that look exactly--including security measures--like every cheque available from banks.  This makes it easy to forge cheques.
2. All they need is to see the routing number on your cheque ONCE and they can duplicate it using the blanks above.
3. Credit card companies often send "courtesy cheques"--many people in the U.S. have mail boxes at the end of the road and most people aren't home.  They simply nab all the mail in the box.  To never have a bank send you these cheques ever again, see Day 4.
4. Lots of people with the mail boxes at the end of the driveway put payments into the boxes figuring that the Mail Carrier will pick up the payment.  All it takes is a bottle of acetone for the thieves to clean the cheque and put a new amount in.  They also have your routing number, see number 2 in this list.

One other troubling fact is that these thieves often have driver's license blanks and the exact printers used to create driver's licenses.  They can create absolutely convincing licenses.  So if you think that you are safe because merchants ask for a driver's license before accepting a cheque, think again.

The letters from OptOutOnline have come back now.  We are now on the blocked list for Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion.  This means once we sign and send the letters off, we are

off the the mailing lists for offers of credit or insurance.  If we do nothing, we are off the lists for five years.

I'll be sending these letters back.

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Never carry more than your bare minimum needs in your wallet or purse. The items recommended by the DA were:

1) One Credit Card

2) Your Driver's License

3) Your Health Insurance Card

Put the other items in a safe place where you can get at them when you need to.

I'm not sure I can get that spare in my wallet, but when I went through it I was able to remove ten cards without any problem at all.

The DA recommended that you use one of those wallets that are on string that you put over your shoulder. I use a similar one to carry my passport when abroad. If you must carry your wallet as a regular wallet, put it in the front pocket of your pants, not the back pocket. If you have a purse, never leave it unattended even for a second. Never have it open with your wallet hanging out the top of it. Would be thieves watch you like a hawk before deciding you are a worthy mark. If you make thievery difficult, they will choose a simpler target.

Today I wrote and sent a letter to the Direct Marketing Association. This stops the association from selling my name and information to direct mail houses and to email marketers. You can be removed in two ways. First, you can go to www.dmaconsumers.org and remove yourself. If you do this, they charge you $5. If you send the following letter (your information inserted of course) it is $1.  The District Attorney recommended just stuffing a $1 bill in the envelope even though they request check, money order, or credit card.

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A few nights ago I attended the monthly PTA meeting at my daughter's school. The PTA is a 501(c)3 whose main mission is to raise money for an art teacher. As one can imagine, I am very supportive. My background is fine arts and I want my daughter to grow up well rounded with lots of experiences in the arts.

What does this have to do with Identity Theft? From time to time the PTA brings in a speaker. This month it was a lawyer from the DA's office who came to talk to us about protecting ourselves from identity theft. He gave us a big booklet and an overview on what Identity Thieves are looking for--credit card applications, cheques, boxes of cheques, anything with a social security number, and so forth.