Q: I received an email from my bank telling me that my account is in danger and I have to answer by email. To verify my identity, they want me to include my full name, social security number and birth date. Is it safe for me to email them all my personal information or should I call the bank to resolve this issue?
A: We are pleased that you have reached to ask us for that matter. You must absolutely not email your personal information or even respond to this email. Most banks - especially large banks - not to send alerts by email to ask you to respond with your full name, social security number and birth date. We recommend that you call your bank to warn of email phishing and mark the email as spam.
Generally, for the future, you should remember to not include personal information in an email . There are several reasons for this but the main one is that you never really know who has access to this information in the mail. The email to the intended recipient could have been hacked or your e-mail might get hacked -. leave your information accessible to a foreign
For example, you decide you want to change your cable package, so you send a general email of the company - as contact@CompanyName.com. Since usually when you call the company asks to check your full name, birth date and last four digits of your social security number, then of course include them in the email to make it easier for the employee receives the mail. Even if you have tried to help the representative of customer service by providing your information, you do not realize is that since you sent to the general e-mail address, it is likely that the majority of employees - you know -. Now have your personal information
Keep your personal information private is the first step to prevent identity theft so it is wise of you to avoid situations in which you might reveal information about you such as your number social security, birth date or more.
If you are interested in taking more of a practical approach to prevent identity theft, you may want to consider registering for a service protection against identity theft. These services daily monitor your credit report from all three bureaus as well as monitor your personal information on the black market of the Internet to ensure that your information is not sold or traded to identity thieves. See our graphic identity theft protection services compare to see what each service has to offer in terms of protection against identity theft.