Tips to Protect yourself from Identity Theft
Identity Theft is one of the fastest growing areas of consumer crime in the country, and one of the most difficult to resolve, once it takes place. The Attorney General and the Consumer Protection Unit of the Department of Justice offer the following advice to protect citizens of Delaware from Identity Theft.

1. Guard your financial information. Never give out your social security number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or any other personal or financial information to anyone you don’t know. And guard all your receipts — especially if they reflect your financial account numbers.

2. Deal only with reputable vendors. Avoid dealing with businesses you don’t know, especially when their offers come to you by e-mail or through telephone calls from people you don’t know. No matter how good the deal may sound, walk away. Identity thieves often pitch great deals to make sure they can lure their victims in quickly.

3. Check your credit report often. Evidence of identity theft often shows up before the victim even realizes what has happened. Criminals often attempt to get credit
under other people’s names or social security numbers, and these attempts will show up on credit bureau reports.

To obtain your free credit report:
Go to www.annualcreditreport.com , call 877-322-8228, or mail your request to Annual Credit report Request Service, P.O. Box 10521, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

4. Trust your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable about doing business with someone, or feel pressured to give up your confidential information, walk away. It is much better to take the time to think through an offer and to do more research, than it is to hand over your confidential personal or financial information to a criminal. Legitimate businesses want your repeat business, and will gladly give you time to do your homework first.

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