You’re doing your holiday shopping in the midst of those distracting sales and crowds. You’re checking your gift lists (twice!) and your budget. You’re juggling bags and boxes. And you’re paying little attention to your purse or wallet. These are the moments when identity thieves will strike.
“Pickpocketing can happen virtually anywhere, and people should be on their guard, especially while shopping this holiday season,” says Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of Experian’s ProtectMyID. “Thieves take advantage of the shopping rush and its inherent distractions to steal wallets and, potentially, identities.” Read More…
I use to make the very same mistakes until i wisoned up and stopped taking all of my credentials with me every where i shopped. My thinking before was that i would never know when i would need so and so, so best to have everything with me.
I learned a valuable lesson when my wallet went missing 🙁 — it was more my silly self loosing it.
Ugh! The other day i was scolded and mocked by friends for carrying a password cheat sheet in my wallet. Mine are very complex and so i tend to carry it with me in case i need to get access to a few particular places. I don’t even make it obvious too but it was noticed when i had to pull it out when i was trying to log into my brokerage account at my friend’s place. Some have said there are easier ways to think complex passwords that are easier to remember but i am a bit too lazy to try since i’ve been doing what i do for years now.
No one really needs more than a money clip and a few face ids.
I am still blown away that women take a purse full of stuff. What’s that all about? And funny thing is i am starting to see man purses too. Crazy world!
Add to this list people’s still incesent need to take wads of money around.
Today there is no reason to have cash on hand since it is more efficient to use a credit card wwhich ALL have grace periods that give you the ability to use free credit for 25-30 days and then you can pay them just before its due. Doing it this way you are essentially boring cash at 0% while your own money is safely in your bank earning interest.
Why don’t most people understand that logical fact?
LOL! People take their Social Insurance # too? If they’re doing that and refusing to memorize this 9-digit # then they have bigger problems.
I disagree about the part of Passports. For me i live in Vancouver which is only 30 mins away from the border and i never know when i will spontaneously want to hop to the US and do some quick shopping. So i carry my passport at all times. I’ve never had problems. But hey, i am Canadian and we don’t have as much issues. 😛
This post should also bring up gift cards. Most people carry them and make up a bulk of our wallets during the holiday seasons. The problem is its just so easy to loose track on which have been used or not and just leave them at stores by accident. I prefer to shop online with the cards instead of walking into stores when i know i have about 9 gift cards. I wish there was a way to consolidate gift cards to one but use at different stores. That would be a life saver.