On an average day I talk to several people that have had their identities stolen. This has become an epidemic in America, one that can be avoided. The reason for the increase in identity theft rests squarely on the parents, the people in the 30-50 year old age bracket. These people have two issues to overcome. The first is blissful ignorance. Their parents lived in a safer time, a world where you knew your neighbors and you didn’t have to lock your doors. They never had to learn how to protect themselves and their identities. As a result they are raising a generation of people that have no common sense when it comes to keeping their information safe.
The teens and early twenties people of our generation have no clue what is stupid behavior. When they get bank statements they throw them out in the envelope, often without looking at them. You just gave a thief your address, your name, your bank and account numbers, as well as your shopping patterns, maybe even your signature. Then there are the people that leave their purse or wallet in the car. Your car gets broken into or even left unlocked, and a thief has every piece of identity you own, and your money can be gone in an instant. The worst thing people do is trust friends to use their debit card and pin number. If you have a dishonest friend who knows your pin number and card number, then consider yourself screwed.
The next generation of identity theft lies with the children too young to have an identity worth taking. Their impending issues are their names. Parents are making up more and more unusual names for their children. When you have a name like Bob, Mary, Rick, Jeff, etc you know if the person you are talking to is a man or a woman. If you talk to Jamira is that person male or female? I have seen both. Now some names may have meaning in other countries or languages, but if you want to avoid identity theft try a bit more of a distinctive name. If you teach your children how to stay safe and give them a normal name then their identity will be safer.
Why do people bring baseball gloves to a game and not use them (or bring them at all)? I went to a college hockey game once and a guy tried to catch a puck from an errant slap shot of the stick a hulking Swedish defenseman. The puck ended up twenty rows past the guy and his thumb was still snapped back to his wrist. Accidents happen so hang up the f’n phone!
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