Paid Surveys And Identity Theft Protection

It is unfortunate that the internet has become a stronghold for scams and crimes that seek to part you from your hard earned money

. These have grown to be much stronger than the old Nigeria email scams. There are now full websites dedicated to tricking you into revealing your personal information. This can cause one to unfairly judge survey websites though, since your information will rarely be at risk with a legitimate company.

The general truth in the survey industry is that you shouldn't have too much to worry about when it comes to your identity. All they should have is your mailing address and your name, which really isn't too telling. You should be careful of any website that asks for more. I would never give my social security number out over the internet without good reason. For example, I remember that one survey company asked for my SSN upon registration. They were legit and still are to my knowledge. I didn't join because I simply refuse to senselessly reveal such information to them.

Since then I believe this was dropped from the general form, but the fact that it was on there still bothers me. These survey websites have no need for your SSN unless you earn more than $600 from their website in one year. If that happens then they actually do have to send a form to report the income to the IRS. Most companies just wait for this to happen though, since few people will hit the yearly threshold. I may be a bit paranoid, but I advise you to refuse to give out your SSN or any other sensitive information upon signup. If they need it they will ask. Do they need to know my interests and education level? Yes. Do they need to know my SSN? No. It's just too dangerous nowadays.

I will also include a little tip for anyone that falls along the line of other scams. If you join one of the many scams that require you to pay them for a survey list, you should make sure that they don't have that sneaked in as a subscription service. Also you can simply get a free list of paid survey sites. There are far too many people who have lost money just because they didn't read the fine print when they signed up. If you joined such a program call your credit card company or check your bill carefully for any subscription charges. It is particularly dangerous for you to pay with a paypal account since paypal will not support your fight against a "legitmate" subscription. You will have to manually remove it through the personal options in your account. This is just another reason you shouldn't ever pay for survey information.

The world is a dangerous place for honest people. There are too many people lying in wait to steal your identity and ruin your credit rating just so that they can make a few bucks. You should be able to avoid such scams in the survey world though by just remaining vigilant against the few bad eggs.

The best way to protect yourself against identity theft is to apply the following four commonsense rules to your day-to-day life:

1. Computer Protection - if you use the Internet you need to have adequate anti-SpyWare and anti-virus software, to protect the personal information your computer holds against hackers and malicious software. If you share your computer with other people, use the separate log in function (Windows XP and Vista), which will allow you to restrict access to your computer. Only shop online at websites that have full security, with the 'golden padlock' icon in the toolbar. If you sell an old computer or lend it to someone else make sure the hard drive is completely wiped first (you can buy software to do this thoroughly).

2. Trash - never throw away documents with personal information on (especially old plastic cards or financial statements) without shredding it first. Fraudsters can obtain vital information from carelessly thrown away trash, which they can use to commit a number of crimes.

3. Personal Information - be very careful to restrict your personal information, (especially Social Security Numbers and Bank account details) and only release it to other people if you are absolutely sure the request is genuine and necessary. Fraudsters can use the telephone, email or postal systems to try and trick you into revealing key personal information.

4. Lost or Stolen - also report lost or stolen plastic cards, checkbooks, passports and drivers license immediately. Not only with this allow you to start getting a replacement as soon as possible, but it also means plastic cards can be canceled quickly, so that opportunistic thieves cannot try and use them to defraud you.

by: li baocai

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