You arrive home after a long travel.
Then, you realize that your credit card company is charging you for unfamiliar transactions. This is a common scenario nowadays, but definitely not the way you want to spend your first day back home.
Protect yourself from identity theft while you are out traveling. Here are few tips how you can do so.
Be careful when using internet abroad.
Never access your private accounts using public wi-fi. It is tempting to connect to public connections during dead hours, and most of all, when it is free.
However, this move is risky as everything you type on your keyboard may be accessed by someone else, and that includes your email passwords, and yes your logins.
Using your own gadget such as laptop also doesn’t secure your information. To protect your accounts, try to use HTTPS instead of HTTP. The “S” stands for secure. This means that data is encrypted.
Secure your mail.
Stop broadcasting your travels on social networking sites.
Wait until you get home before you share photos of your whereabouts. Remember that not everyone are interested.
Also, this only risking your safety.
Request trusted friends or neighbors to pick your email everyday so your mailbox would not overflow. A full mailbox invites thieves and burglars.
Better yet, contact your newspaper or magazine supplier or any subscription you have, to hold deliveries first as you will be out. These documents reveal your contact information which identity thieves may steal.
Watch your boarding passes.
Tear your boarding passes after use and make sure to properly dispose them.
This small piece of paper provides information that identity thieves may find useful.
If you plan to keep your boarding passes as souvenirs, then make sure to store them where it is not visible to onlookers.
Study your password.
Your password protects your accounts from being hacked. So how do you keep it secured?
I refuse to write my papers during travels unless it’s a matter of life of death. If you can afford to leave your laptop at home then do so. And, never access your online bank accounts online when you are connected to public wi-fi.
It pays as well that you update your computer’s anti-virus programs, as well as your phone’s. Set up your smartphone so you will be able to remotely erase all files in the event that it gets stolen.
Guard documents.
Your wallet is an unsafe place for your documents.
Remove your IDs and leave them at home before traveling. In case you forgot to take them out out of your wallet, entrust them to the hotel safe.
Request the staff to secure them for you because leaving them in your room, even when you have the keys, is even more dangerous.It’s much more risky perhaps than keeping them in money belts.
Get in touch with your bank and inform that you will be away. Coordinate as well with major credit bureaus such as TransUnion and Equifax to request for a temporary freeze to prevent thieves from accessing your credit history.
This would not affect your credit card usage abroad so no need to worry.
Be wise as well when using ATM. Go where the machine is connected to a bank. Avoid standalones.
Author Bio:
Nettie Gray would update her journals but would never work while out traveling. She makes sure to note though interesting essay writing topics that suddenly crosses her mind.
