What an Ex-Con Artist Says You Should Never Carry in Your Wallet

If you’ve paid attention to pop-up ads, and podcast commercials, you already know identity theft is happening everywhere. Well, the most common form of identity theft isn’t someone hacking into your Facebook to scam your friends. It’s when someone steals your purse or wallet and makes purchases with your accounts.

Want to avoid an unwanted doppelganger? The con artist Frank Abagnale, whose memoir ‘Catch Me If You Can’ launched a movie by the same name, has some pro tips on what you should never have in your wallet.

  • Too many credit and debit cards.It’s simple. The fewer cards you have, the fewer calls you have to make to freeze your accounts if your wallet goes missing. Frank says he never uses a debit card and only carries two credit cards. One for business,the other for pleasure.
  • Social Security card.Why is this even in your wallet? Talk about making it easy for a fraudster.Store that somewhere safe that isn’t your pocket!
  • Checks.Frank says if you know you’re going to have to write a check, carry onlyoneon you because check fraud crazy easy to pull off.
  • Gas station and ATM receipts.While your whole account number isn’t printed on the recipt, even just the last four digits of your card can be enough to give an identity thief a head start.

What should you have in your wallet (or purse)? As little as possible! So it’s time to clean out all those business cards you’ll never actually contact and that Dunkin gift card you can’t remember if it has 50 dollars or 50 cents.

Source:CNBC


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content