The reality of the internet age is it has eroded many of our protections and rights with regard to privacy.  As a stalking victim, I am more aware of it than most.  I recently found one of the major "information" providers will give you my address and my phone number, which has been listed for over 20 years but listed under an assumed name, for $9.95.  And where did they get the information? From my bank.  

Identity theft is why my shredder is second nature to me.  And, if I have the slightest tinge of spidey sense about an email being spam, I delete it without opening. 

I shred everything.  I’m careful when surfing. I watch my mail like a hawk and I do everything that I can to protect my identity and my credit - it doesn’t matter.  I received a letter from AMEX the other day explaining that my AMEX number, and "one or more of the following": my name, the information from the magnetic stripe on the back of my card (including the expiration date), PIN number, state of residence, and/zip code may have been acquired.  The culprit?  An employee.  I was advised that they are "no longer with the company" and have been arrested.  So what if they were arrested… the damage is done!  I’m livid that this can happen so easily.

It seems you can do everything possible on your end to protect yourself yet all it takes is one shady employee and that’s all she wrote!  I fret and shred and watch and make careful choices and still, in the broad scheme of things, I’m sorry to say that security is just an illusion. 

I may be frustrated, but I’ll still do all I can on my end.  As I said before, I shred everything and that’s not just credit card offers & junk mail, it’s envelopes with my name and address on them  and even the labels from my meds - It’s no one’s business with whom I do business or correspond and no one needs to know what meds I take! Who knows what personal information someone might use against me? These days, you hear of some of the strangest tales… 

One thing I do that is helpful to me is put on-line balance alerts on my checking accounts.  The alerts are designed to let me know when my balance has fallen below a designated amount, but I set the number fairly low so I’ll get an email with my balance every day.  This way, I can keep an eye on the balance daily and should any problems arise, I can jump on it right away. 

We’re constantly having to cancel credit cards due to unauthorized use.  Recently my PayPal account was compromised which led to a long series of problems with a bank account, credit cards and PayPal.

We still bank and buy on line (but not with PayPal).  But we check account activities on a daily basis.