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It's important to safeguard your personal information. Data breaches increased 47% last year and affected 35.7 million Americans. Here are some things you can do to protect your information from criminals: - Don't carry sensitive personal Information such as your Social Security Card with you. Identity theft commonly results from information found in lost or stolen wallets, purses, mail or paper records.
- Don't give out your Social Security number unless absolutely necessary - and never on unsolicited phone calls or emails.
- Shred account statements and any financial documents before you throw them away.
- Provide financial information only when you are on a secure website. A secure Web address will begin with the letters "https" (instead of the usual "http") and will often display a small padlock icon.
- Maintain up-to-date anti-virus, anti-spam and persona firewall software. For reviews of the latest security software, see www.cnet.com.
Did you know? $48 billion was the total cost of identity theft in 2008. 43% resulted from lost of stolen wallets, checkbooks and credit cards. 11% were committed online. To further protect yourself and your family, check out WAWA's Identity Theft Program that is available to members.
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