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Protect your personal information -- it's valuable

Why? To an identity thief, it can provide instant access to your financial accounts, your credit record, and your other personal assets.

If you think no one would be interested in your personal information, think again. The reality is that anyone can be a victim of identity theft. In fact, according to a Federal Trade Commission survey, there are almost 10 million victims every year. It's often difficult to know how thieves obtained their victims' personal information, and while it definitely can happen offline, some cases start when online data is stolen. Visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft to learn what to do if your identity is stolen.

Unfortunately, when it comes to crimes like identity theft, you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim. But following these tips can help minimize your risk while you're online:

If you're asked for your personal information – your name, email or home address, phone number, account numbers, or Social Security number – learn how it's going to be used, and how it will be protected, before you share it.

Don't open unsolicited or unknown email messages
If you do get an email or pop-up message asking for personal information, don't reply or click on the link in the message. To avoid opening such messages, you can turn off the "Preview Pane" functionality in email programs, and you can set your default options to view opened emails as plain text to avoid active links or pop-ups in the messages.

Most importantly, do not to respond to solicitations for your personal or financial information. If you believe there may be a need for such information by a company with whom you have an account or placed an order, contact that company directly in a way you know to be genuine.

Never send your personal information via email because email is not a secure transmission method. Most email programs have email filters built-in to the application. The links on the left hand side of this webpage contain video tutorials that'll show you how to set your email filters, so you can limit the amount of unsolicited email you receive.

If you are shopping online:
Be careful about providing your personal or financial information through a company's website without taking measures to reduce the risk. There are some indicators that show vendors have taken measures to secure their sites such as a lit lock icon on the browser's status bar or a website URL that begins "https:" (the "s" stands for "secure").

Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some scammers have forged security icons.

Read website privacy policies
They should explain what personal information the website collects, how the information is used, and whether it is provided to third parties. The privacy policy also should tell you whether you have the right to see what information the Web site has about you, whether they provide and/or sell your information to third parties, and what security measures the company takes to protect your information. If you don't see a privacy policy – or if you can't understand it – consider doing business elsewhere.

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