All of us have heard about the warnings like never give out your personal information over the phone or Internet unless you are willing to let someone steal your identity. As we are passing through Christmas and new year season and during this time several emails strike our mailbox that have such instructions following which you can become a victim of identity theft.

All officially looking emails are not legitimate

Even if you have got emails branded with corporate logos, then don’t think that these are all legitimate ones as even the most officially-looking emails can also be a front for identity thieves who want to take away your credit card information. But sometimes you have to take few more precautions in order to protect your identity.

Here in this article I have given you some tips to keep you safe from identity theft.

1. You should Leave Your Credit Cards at Home

When you don’t need your credit cards, then it is better to leave them at home in a safe place along with your Social Security card and other important documents. Doing this not only that you will not be tempted to make impulse purchases, but it will also keep your finances secure in case if your wallet or purse is lost or stolen.

2. You should Keep Personal Details Private

Are you on social networks like MySpace and Facebook? If any such personal details like your full name and date of birth have been published by you, then thieves can use these details for getting more information about you.

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It is recently reported that there have been massive credit card security breaches. Hackers and scammers are always in a search for an easy score. It is not possible to keep them from targeting big corporations, but what you can do is that you can take steps to ensure that they don’t get your personal information due to any mistake made by yourself.

Usual Advices To Ensure Your Credit Card Security

You’ve must have heard the usual advice such as don’t ever carry all of your credit cards in your wallet; never give out your credit card number over the phone; and never shop online except at trusted web sites with good security measures in place. What else can you do to protect yourself?

Don’t fall for phishing scams.

The probable sources of these scams are that they can come in the form of official-sounding e-mails, text messages, or phone calls. Typically the premise is the same: your account has shown there which is a suspicious activity, and now in order to verify your identity and regain access to your account you must have to provide your PIN, password, or Social Security Number. Don’t fall prey to these scams! It might be claimed by the scammers that they does work for your bank, a major retailer, or even the IRS.

Here the problem is that your personal account details via text, phone, or e-mail will never be asked by any of those entities. If this thing happens to you and you have received a phishing message, you don’t answer it and just simply ignore it and then contact the actual business using their official contact information. There are chances that you’re not the only victim they’ve heard from.