• Hand out personal identifying information on a strict need-to-know basis. You may need to give out your social security number in order to apply for a credit card – but does your local dollar video store really need it? If you have to give up information, find out how your information will be used and who it will be share with. Many states, for instance, have bought a significant clue and no longer require you to use your social security number on your driver’s license. If the Federal Government asks for your social security number, look for the Privacy Act notice; supplying your social security number may be optional and voluntary.
• Pay attention to your bills; check to make sure that each bill shows up each month. And review each bill to make sure each charge is actually yours.
• Guard against mail theft. Deposit outgoing mail in post office box. Receive mail either through a mail slot or other more secure method than the old fashion mailbox stuck up top the old milk jug. If preapproved applications for credit cards come in the mail, don’t just throw them away – shred them (call 1-888-5-optout to opt out of receiving these prescreened credit card applications).
• Many banks and credit cards now permit you to place passwords on accounts that must be provided before changes are made. And of course, if you do use passwords, do not use as a password such things as social security numbers, you date of birth, your mother’s maiden name, and any other personal information.
• How fat is your wallet and how many unnecessary cards are in it? What happens when that wallet is pinched? Think about carrying about carrying as little information as possible in your wallet, and by all means, do not carry a cheat sheet of all of you passwords in there. Next, make a photocopy of everything in your wallet and securely store the copy in the event the wallet is lost or stolen.
• Be careful about people who call or email you and ask, under some pretense, for personal information. If your alleged bank representative calls and asks for information related to your bank, thank them very much and tell them you will call them. Call a number that you know belongs to your bank and confirm that they are actually in need of this information. Not surprisingly, a great deal of SPAM is sent by fraudsters attempting to acquire personal information.
• Annually check your credit record. The credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) are legally permitted to charge you no more than $8.50 for a copy of your credit report.

My personal favorite advice for protecting your personal information is to lie, lie, lie. There are lots of people asking lots of questions about you for a plethora of reasons. In many occasions, there is no reason you have to tell them the truth. One strategy is to provide them the information they ask for, but let it all be creative fiction. If they want to know your date of birth, make one up. Randomly pick a salary. Say that you have 30 children. Never give out your actual e-mail address unless you like SPAM. And when that devious someone tries to create a personal profile of you, it will be so full of conflicting information and rubbish as to be useless.