Helpful hints to keep you safe and stress free in your travels

Helpful hints to keep you safe and stress free in your travels

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID
REQUIRED.'

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO
NOTput the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put
the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the
number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all
the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If
you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a
PO Box, use your work address.Never have your SS# printed on your
checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed,
anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on photocopy machine. Do both
sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your
wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel..
Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or
abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in
stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards..

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet
was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive
monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line
approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to
change my driving record information online, and more.
But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this
happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.
But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you
know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6.. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your
credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were
diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is
one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even
thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to
place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud
line number.. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that
called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my
name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your
information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new
credit..

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft,
all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks
initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before
placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the
thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to
have stopped them dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet,
if it has been stolen: