from the publishers of: Verywell, Real Simple, EatingWell, Shape, Parents, Health and Allrecipes
A wallet is one of the most important things you can carry. (You never leave home without it!) But you may not realize that this vital accessory could leave you open to identity theft if you’re not careful, according to Eva Velasquez, CEO of Identity Theft Resource Center. According to Velasquez, many of us stuff our wallets with items containing sensitive information that is often unnecessary for our day-to-day lives. “Carrying anything that has more of your personally identifiable information than you need at the moment is going to be a security risk,” she says.
Ideally, you want to carry the bare minimum with you at all times—just in case your belongings are lost or stolen. So what does that look like? Velasquez recommends packing your wallet like you’re on vacation. “You probably pare things down when you travel and take only what’s essential,” Velasquez says. “You can adopt that mindset in your daily life.”
Get started by removing the following from your wallets:
Your Social Security number is a critical piece of information, and carrying your card around is usually unnecessary, Velasquez says. With this one piece of paper, someone can apply for credit cards in your name, potentially wrecking your credit score.
Although a passport can be a form of identification, it’s best to leave it at home unless you’re traveling internationally or it’s your primary form of ID. (A sophisticated cyber criminal could sell your stolen passport on the dark web.) “If we’re talking about minimizing risk, I would make a choice and carry one form of ID,” Velasquez says.
If someone fraudulently uses your debit card, the funds are instantly taken from your account, meaning you’ve lost that money. Typically, banks will refund your account while they investigate the claim. However, banks can unexpectedly deduct the funds again if they determine your claim isn’t valid, which can mistakenly happen even if your card was stolen! “And if it’s the first of the month and you’re going, ‘I gotta pay rent or my house payment is due,’ you’ve lost access to your cash,” Velasquez says.
They may not include top-secret information, but thieves could use the tidbits on old receipts for their scams. “Bad actors that use social engineering as a tactic will use the pieces of information on receipts to lend legitimacy to a phone call,” Velasquez says. For example, if your wallet is stolen and you have receipts inside, a thief, posing as your credit card issuer, could call you about a fraud alert. (There are online databases where people may find your phone number.) Scammers can use the information from your receipt, such as a purchase, store, and the last four digits of your credit card number, to make their lies seem convincing. They can also extract information from you such as your Social Security number.
You’re literally giving thieves access to your home by keeping a spare house key in your wallet. All someone needs is your home address, which they will likely have if your driver’s license is in your wallet, to break into your home.
Remembering every single password for every single account is tough. We get it. But you want to avoid carrying them on a sticky note in your wallet, which is a surprisingly common habit, according to Velasquez. “I’m very hard-pressed to think that you need all of your passwords at every moment everywhere you are,” she says.
But just one! There’s no need to carry a passport, Social Security card, and driver’s license.
Credit cards tend to have more protections against fraud compared to a debit card, Velasquez says. If you have a credit card, then it’s best to carry one (and only one) for your day-to-day purchases.
It’s a good idea to keep a small emergency contact card listing a friend’s or family member’s name and phone number in your wallet. That way a helpful stranger will know who to contact if you’re in an accident or if you lose your wallet.