Identity Theft Protection for Summer Travelers

Don’t Let Your Summer Trip be Ruined, Use These Important Identity Theft Protection Tips

Summer vacation is a staple for families all across the country. You load up the family into the car, and head out on the road for adventure.

Unfortunately identity thieves don’t take vacations.

Identity theft can be a problem for travelers, but there are some easy things that you can do, and should remember, to make sure your trip goes off without any extra hassles.

• Where are you going? Let your bank or credit card company know where you’re going so that your purchases don’t cause them to freeze your card due to suspicious activity. Something else to think about is how many cards you’re carrying with you. Don’t create added risk, and carry only what you need.

• Staying at a hotel? Check if they have a safe, or somewhere else you can store your valuable information, especially a passport. If not, keep it with you. Do not just leave it laying in your room. 
  Also, if you’re booking your room through a third party website, to make sure that it is trusted and secure. You generally are giving your private information, and credit card numbers to these sites, and want to make sure that you are not leaving it in the wrong hands.

• Have a smartphone, or tablet you plan on taking with you? According to the Federal Trade Commission, you should be careful with your data. When using a hotspot, make sure your entire time online is fully encrypted, also sign out when you’re done. Also, make sure you change the settings so that your wi-fi doesn’t always automatically sign in to whatever hotspot it finds.

• Everyone loves to share their pictures, and make posts on social networks, but that doesn’t always mean you should. Thieves have been stalking people’s social media to find easy targets. The longer your trip, the less likely you should be to share that information with people.

These are just a few of the things you should remember when traveling this summer regarding your identity. Make sure you take into account what you can do to keep yourself, and the others around you protected, and then go and have a blast.

If you have any questions about protecting yourself from identity theft, or need anything destroyed professionally, contact us.