I see a few guys here using their real names. I think this should be done at your own risk. I typed in a few names that I see here on EliteTrader on Google just for fun. I was able to find out that one guy is 6'1, 185 lbs, went to Wooton High School and grew up in Potomac. Played baseball at Bucknell back in 1999. Even found out the names of his team mates. Thats what I did with a few seconds on Google. Now if I go further and use other sources on the web, I can easily find out such things as social security numbers and the like. Even find out the names of family members. Next thing you know, your brokerage account is emptied or someone just applied for a loan under your name.
You have a legitamate point there but you really have to draw the line on how paranoid you should be before it drives you crazy. No matter how many precautions you take, people can find out personal information about you if they're really motivated to do so. If you're worried about someone that sees your screen name on a message board stealing your identity then what about the bank teller that has access to your social security #, bank accounts, pin number, adress, etc etc. Or the cable guy you let into your home? Not totally disagreeing with you here, just wanted to offer another perspective on the subject.
Your just scatching the tip of the iceberg When you buy a home, your mortgage broker has your paperwork with your SS# on it. He takes it home with him and leaves it on his dining room table. Your doctor's office takes your insurance info and there's your SS# again. The office staff has access to it 24/7. Your bank has it alright, and if you knew that your bank hires high school kids to do the bulk of the scut work, would that make you feel any better? Buy a car, take the dealer offered finance package and in about a half hour they have your SS# (in order to get your credit score). Believe me, if someone wants your info and they have the capital to spend, they can have it. Steve
Interesting you make this post. remember my request for your name and property tax website links referring to your 33 properties as proof to shut up all the naysayers on some other thread?
I did have my identity stolen once and it wasnt that fun. I dont know where they got my name or any other information, it just seemed to happen. I made a police report and a report to the postmaster. No one seemed to care and the name just kept getting used for everything from the electric company to a home loan. I even placed a warning on my credit report. It seemed to haunt me for a good two years with banks calling me. I still have that police report in the event I need to fax it around again to prove that I am not the one making the home loan or whatever. I do everything in my power to keep my identity from the masses. Shred all my paperwork, use spyware scanners, etc.
The TV news had a story on ID theft and the most common place to have your ID stolen is a work. Mail and your garbage are other methods for ID theft.
My dad ALWAYS burns the paper trash. He recycles all plastics, cans, newspapers with the address ripped off, etc. His reasoning: "The last thing we need is someone digging through our trash and finding a bank statement or some bill that was accidentally thrown out."
Seems right to me. I had my identity stolen and the first clue I had that it had happened was when the voice on the other end of the phone said,"this is so-snd-so with the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS" Needless to say he had my complete attention right away. At the end of the conversation he finished by saying "well we really didn't think you were involved in this but we have to cover all the bases". Long story short, I have no idea who was involved, but that it involved some sort of phone scam, and in an area that I worked in briefly but had never lived. I can only assume that it got started from work. What I do know is that it took about seven years to finally get the incident out of my credit files at the big three reporting agencies. In dealing with a credit report incident you are definitely guilty until proven innocent. Once in, it is disseminated to other minor agencies and can lie latent, only to pop up and go back into the big three again which starts the whole infestation all over. It's like trying to stamp out a grass fire on a windy day. It wouldn't surprise me if it appears again.