Ever had those over friendly telephone calls, from your “bank” requesting you to just confirm your ID number, address, or some other personal bit of information?  Or that email asking you to quickly log into your banking app or SARS and just confirm the information?

Delete! Delete! Delete! 

Identity theft has become one of the SA criminals favourite pastimes.  During the past couple of months, my own family fell victim to such an inventive way of making extra money.  It is taking forever to fix, with a company who will lose the money they borrowed to someone they did not properly identify, and therefor are not exceptionally eager to assist with the solution.  However the consequences for the person who were innocently caught up in this, is far worse.  Your ITC record is affected, and this may take MONTHS to rectify.

Here are some handy tips on ways to prevent your identity from being stolen:

1. Change your digital passwords frequently
2. Stay away from shady websites. 
3. Never EVER give out personal information
4. Regularly check your credit reports.
5. Be alert to phishing and spoofing. If you don’t know what this is, read up on it.  Criminals are smarter than us!
6. Watch your mailbox, SMS’s and react when you see something strange.
7. Shred old documentation. Don’t let your information lying around, and confirm with professionals that you work with, what will happen to your personal information, once in their possession.