Therefore it is important that you protect yourself against identity theft scams, and one of the best ways you can do this is to treat your personal information as private and confidential, and consider all requests for this information very carefully.  Never reveal sensitive personal data unless you are absolutely sure the person requesting the information is genuine, and if you have to send any important documents through the mail make sure you use recorded delivery services so that you can track your parcel and make sure it gets to the right person.  Also if you are need to provide personal data over the phone verify the callers identity first, and if someone calls you claiming to be from an official company or financial institution then it is important that you take down their details and then call them back through the companies switchboard to ensure they are a genuine employee.

You should also be very wary of anyone offering you unsolicited ‘amazing’ deals for goods or services via the phone, post or Internet, and never give money up front or provide your account/credit card details unless you can confirm that the deal is genuine.  Also think very carefully about letters or phone calls that tell you that you have won a prize in a draw or lottery that you have never heard of or taken part in, as this is a common scam designed to trick you into revealing your personal information or paying money up front for prizes that don’t actually exist (or may be inferior to the one you have been originally offered).