Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing financial crimes in America, accounting for losses in the billions of dollars every year.  The following are tips for your protection and advice on what to do if it happens to you:

• Don’t have your driver’s license number or Social Security number printed on your checks
• Don’t carry your Social Security card or birth certificate in your wallet or purse
• Try not to carry more than one credit card in your wallet
• Don’t carry credit card receipts.  Keep them safe or destroy them
• Don’t carry account passwords with your cards or write them on the cards
• Shred all credit card offers mailed to you
• Never give your credit card number or bank account information to anyone calling you
• Ask to have your checks mailed to your bank, not to your home
• Don’t leave outgoing mail in your mailbox; drop it off at a post office instead
• When paying with our credit card, encourage clerks to check your identification
• Review monthly bills carefully for unexplained charges
• Shred all documents with account numbers before disposing of them
• Order only from secure, reputable Internet sites
• Order your credit report from the three major credit bureaus and make sure the information is correct
• Make photocopies of the items in your wallet (both sides).  Keep this photocopy in a safe place

If someone has stolen your identity

• Call your local police department and file a report.  Get a copy of the report in case the bank, credit card company or others need it later
• Notify all three credit reporting bureaus.  Tell them to put a fraud alert on your file and ask that no new credit be granted without your approval.  Call Equifax at 1-800-685-1111, Experian at 1-888-397-3742, and Trans Union at 1-800-916-8800.  Or online at equifax.com, Experian.com, and Transunion.com
• Change your account numbers for banking, credit cards and utilities.  Put new passwords and user ids on all new accounts.