A reminder...

[rmp]

...not to divulge here personal information that could be used for identity theft.

Basically anything that you'd need to fill out on a form for purposes such as financial transactions which could identify you. Includes mother's maiden name, dates you lived in places, date of birth, address(es) etc. A little shredder is a good idea too, shove all your unwanted receipts and the like through it.

Communicating on the Internet is like offroading; there's an inherent risk, but it's easily managed. Those that post every possible detail about themselves on Facebook are asking for trouble, and just because a form asks you for details doesn't mean to say you need to supply them, or even that they need to be correct. For example if you buy whitegoods and collect them why does the shop need your address or home phone? They don't. I'm in as "." at several places because the system doesn't accept a blank field and I don't accept the need to hand over personal details without good reason.

Nothing in particular here prompted this post, just read the following story this morning:

The sick feeling of finding out you don't exist | The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25730610-601,00.html)

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Yep, that's good advice. :)

[waynep]

I was surprised how much of our garbage contained personal details. We now have a shredder ( one that turns it into confetti not strips ). Any unwanted papers with personal details on them go in there and the shreds go in to the compost heap. Papers we need to keep ( bank statements, tax stuff etc ) now gets locked away in a filing cabinet.

After some letterbox thefts in our area, I installed a larger steel letterbox with a padlock on it. The slot can fit up to A4 envelopes flat. If someone really tried they could retrieve mail back through the slot I guess, but it would take a while and be pretty obvious to the neighbours.

It concerns me that many businesses that have our personal details to do not have good data security themselves. ( especially some of the small businesses.) It would only take a dishonest employee, or theft of a computer - you'd never know your personal info had gone to an undesirable.

[KEV0044]

Good Point Rob :)
We have used a shredder for all home and business mail for a few years now .
There are some scumbags that actually search through your garbage bins for ID Numbers and Signatures :mad:

[inside]

I have been lazy and have only just got around to shredding about 2 years worth of stuff. The local pet store was happy with me though when I bought in 3 garbage bags of shredded paper for their animals.

[p38arover]

We also shred any personal stuff, including credit card receipts - especially the yellows from manual imprints. They have the credit card number imprinted as well as one's signature.

Re phone nos., maybe use the same type of phone number the USA uses on TV shows: 5555-1234