Tax Time Tips from Identity Theft Expert

Tax time season is prime time for identity theft to occur. The documents taxpayers send and receive this time of year contain all the information identity thieves look for: your name, address, bank and financial account information, and most importantly, your Social Security Number.

To help combat this problem, identity theft expert Robert Siciliano is teaming up with uni-ball pens and the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), to provide helpful tips to safeguard identities during the 2009 tax season.

• Secured Boxes Are Best. When it comes to mailing in your tax returns, always take them directly to your local post office location. Consider investing in a locking mailbox, one the postal carrier can make a deposit, but thieves can’t make a withdrawal. And be sure to retrieve your mail. Uncollected mail is an invitation for an identity thief.
  
• Secure Your Signature. As it becomes more difficult to get new lines of credit, identity thieves may be drawn more to commit check fraud. These crimes may take the form of stolen checks, using checks thrown into the trash by unknowing consumers, or a type of identity theft known as “check washing.” Check washing occurs when checks or other tax-related documents are stolen from the mail or by other means and the ink is erased using common household chemicals, allowing thieves to endorse checks to themselves. This is where something as simple and inexpensive as a uni-ball pen can help. The pen’s specially formulated gel ink (trademarked Uni-Super Ink) is absorbed into the paper’s fibers and can never be washed out.
  
• Do your Research. Most recently, there have been reports of tax preparers telling their clients they have to pay back their 2008 stimulus checks and then pocketing the money. Not all professional tax preparers have your best interest at heart, according to the ITRC. If you chose to have someone help you with your taxes, do some background research before committing to your tax professional. Remember, you are providing them with lots of personal information. Seek information from organizations such as the Better Business Bureau or from trusted friends who have previously done business with them.
  
• Shred Throwaway Documents. Make sure to use a cross-cut or micro-cut paper shredder when disposing of old documents. The papers that may not seem important to you could be a treasure if a thief finds them.
• Protect Your Computer. Today, working online to do your taxes is a common practice. Make sure that your computer is protected by a firewall and you are using secure software. Also, the computer your children use should not be used for personal financial information, such as bookkeeping, online banking and tax reporting. Provide them with a “sandbox” PC for them to play in. As much as you might teach them otherwise, kids may download free software, music and games that can potentially infect your computer with viruses.
  

To learn more about safeguarding your signature this tax season, visit uniball-na.com.

SOURCE Uni-ball