advice worth heeding

.
Received in email:

Not A Joke!!   Even If you dislike attorneys..You will love them for 
these tips. 
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to 
it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate 
attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company: 

1. Do not sign  the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ' Second 
form of ID required. '  
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, 
 DO  NOT put the complete  account number on the ' For ' line. Instead, 
just put the  last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest 
of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes 
through all the check processing channels won ' t have access to it. 
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If 
you have a  PO  Box use that instead of your home address. If you do no 
t have a PO Box, use your work address. Never  have your  SS# printed on 
your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have 
It printed, anyone can get it. 
4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both 
sides of each license, credit card, etc.. You will know what you had in 
your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call 
and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.  
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or 
abroad. We ' ve all heard horror stories about fraud that ' s committed on 
us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.. 
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my 
wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an 
expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, 
had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN 
number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and 
more.  
But here ' s some critical information to limit the damage  in case this 
happens to you or someone you know: 
5. We have been told we should  cancel our  credit cardsimmediately. 
But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy 
so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them. 
6..  File a  police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your 
credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you 
were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if 
there ever is one). 
But here ' s what is perhaps  most important of all: (I never even 
thought to do this.)  
7. Call  the  3 national credit reporting organizations  immediately to 
place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security 
fraud line number.. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a 
bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the 
Internet in my name.  
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your 
information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to 
authorize new credit.. 
By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, 
all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit 
checks initiated by the thieves ' purchases, none of which I knew about 
before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has be en 
done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned 
it in).. It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.. 
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, 
if it has been stolen: 
1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285  
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 
3.) Trans  Union  : 1-800-680 7289 
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):  
1-800-269-0271 
We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about 
everything. 
If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help 
someone that you care about..