What is identity theft ? It is when someone pretends to be someone else in order to gain access to financial resources. Bank loans and leasing information are some examples of financial resources. The identity thief can then use this information to gain deeper access into your financial history and other sensitive information.

Often times, these criminals will try to ask your contacts for money or other favors while pretending to be you. The key here is learning how to protect you against these criminals.

I think people have less inhibition when they are online, and often times allow themselves to either expose or conceal themselves in a much more dynamic way. In other words, you can be anybody or anything online. There are also people who open themselves up too much, and aren't aware for the dangers of internet identity theft .

Use long and difficult passwords that contain numbers, symbols, and capital letters. This will safe guard your personal information from potential hackers. Put lock codes on your electronic devices that require passwords in order to access them. Develop a series of passwords that you can store somewhere safe for easy access, and train your brain to remember all of them.

Practice signing and re-signing your name several times. This is particularly useful when using a checkbook or signing your credit card. All of the signatures have to match. Having a picture on your credit card is another safeguard, and is perhaps one of the best deterrence for identity thieves.

The two main points to remember here is that you need to have strong login credentials that have symbols, numbers, and long words. The second thing to remember here is your physical signature. It needs to be long and difficult to copy. You also need to make sure you are consistent with that signature so that you do not forget exactly how to sign it again.