Some of the tips are below:

1) The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

2) Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box use your work address. Never have your social security number printed on your checks-you can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

3) Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad.

If someone steals your wallet, you should cancel your credit cards immediately. The key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

Most importantly, call the three national credit-reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

The numbers are:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

Fingers crossed that this will never happen to you or me!

Spam is another name for junk mail. In the same way that you get bulk junk mail in your mailbox at home, this is bulk junk in your e-mail inbox. You can often look in the “To:” area and see that the same e-mail has been sent to many other people.

Unfortunately, there is no telling how you got on the spammer’s e-mail list, but there are some ways to minimize your future exposure:

1) Establish a secondary e-mail address that you give out when making purchases. Take advantage of the free web-based e-mail accounts available – i.e. www.hotmail.com, www.gmail.com, or www.yahoo.com. Here you can have an e-mail address for free to give out to the general public and save your other e-mail address for friends only.

2) Check if your e-mail provider can block Spam. Many services will offer to detect bulk e-mails and place them in a “Junk Mail” folder for you to view and delete. Some providers will, if you choose, prohibit the receipt of all bulk e-mail. The latter is a bit dodgy as you might get sent bulk mail from a friend or company that you want to receive. Be sure you understand how your service block the e-mails.

3) Visit chat rooms and message boards incognito. Chat rooms and message boards are a great resource for spammers to add to their mailing lists. Do not use your “friends only” e-mail address when visiting either.

For those of you that like the meat in a tin, more power to you. But you don’t have to put up with it in your inbox. If you get really objectionable spam, please contact the Network Abuse Clearinghouse at www.abuse.net.

Let it be a lesson to us all not to forward e-mail from someone who is forwarding it along after it had been forwarded to them without checking its authenticity. These are the e-mails that show an endless listing of past recipients before you get to the actual e-mail message. This goes for virus warnings, as well as tragic tales where you’re instructed to forward it so some unfortunate can get a $1 for every e-mail sent in their honor and chain letters that threaten bad luck if they’re broken.

Sometimes these forwarded e-mails are research for a school paper and we’re the student’s unwitting guinea pigs. Or, it may be someone with an enormous ego wanting to see how far their bogus e-mail will travel. Either way, you become an accomplice by blindly passing on the message.

Here’s some advice before passing on an e-mail:

1. If the e-mail refers to a virus, call your computer manufacturer to check its validity. Alternatively, you can check for current viruses and hoaxes at this web site address: http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp? (Note: Do NOT precede the web address with www.)
2. Call the medical institution that is supposedly going to donate money for every e-mail sent in the name of the poor unfortunate. Chances are they won’t know what you’re talking about.
3. Send the chain letter back to the person who sent it to you—10 times! Hopefully, they’ll remove you from their chain letter list.

We all remember the rumors that began in the playground and haunted us through the school day. Think twice before you forward an e-mail. That person you knew in the playground may be all grown up and sitting at a computer up to their old tricks.

I once read that 90% of all passwords can be broken in 20 minutes or less. Shocking, but true. And don’t blame it on computer hackers, they aren’t the ones that decided to use birthdays, anniversaries and children’s names as their passwords. We’re the ones that did that because they’re easy to remember. However, they are also easy to obtain from public records.

Below are a few words on passwords:

1. Do NOT use your ATM pin number or any bank password for a password on the computer. It makes it too easy for someone to possibly access your money.
2. Choose something obscure but easy to remember, if you need a password when registering on a web site (i.e. to purchase airline tickets or access an online bridge game). Perhaps your favorite animal, the street you grew up on, the nickname only your grandmother called you.
3. You don’t need to use a different password for each web site that requires one. Just have your password to access the Internet be different. All the others can be the same.
4. Keep track of your passwords. Have a piece of paper tucked away in your desk (not in your wallet!) that lists all your passwords. As soon as you choose a password, make note of the web site it is associated with and any user name that you may have chosen.

With a little creative thinking you can better protect your privacy while on the Internet. If you’ve already chosen easy-to-guess passwords, most sites allow you to change them. Please do.