Here is some advice from the Theft Resource Center to help keep a lock on your identity during the holiday season.

Use a Credit Card, not a debit card, to make purchases. It’s easier to get a fraudulent credit card charge erased than it is to get a bank to restore funds to your bank account.

Carry one credit card; leave the rest home “It’s easier to close one credit card than it is to close six, and it’s less damaging in the long run”

Be aware of your surroundings. If you’re opening a new credit account, don’t do it at a register or counter where strangers can overhear you or the clerk talking about your information.

Watch for people looking at your credit card as it’s being passed to or from the clerk.

Watch your card every moment that the clerk has it so it’s not “skimmed” by a dishonest store employee.

Put your credit receipt in your wallet or purse, not in the bag with the item.
- Most credit card receipts are truncated, but the last thing you want is somebody to do a quick drip (in your bag), and they’ve got it. -

Whether in politics, investing, religions, or personal dealings, beware of those that step forward to offer you their protection.

Alarms can be a good investment, especially if you have many valuables in your home, or live in an isolated area or one with a history of break-ins.
· Check with several companies before you buy so you can decide what level of security fits your needs. Do business with an established company and check references before signing a contract.
· Learn how to use your system properly! Don't "cry wolf" by setting off false alarms. People will stop paying attention and you'll probably be fined.
· Some less expensive options...a sound-detecting socket that plugs into a light fixture and makes the light flash when it detects certain noises, motion sensing outdoor lights that turn on when someone approaches, or lights with photo cells that turn on when it's dark and off when it's light.

VISIT A7ALARMS.com for more information!

For your own peace of mind just knowing that your house is the safest place on earth just follow a few steps to make it that way.
1. Make sure you have a working smoke detector, and a working carbon monoxide detector as well.
2. Make sure you have deadbolt lock for both your front door and your back door and use them when you are home.
3. Make sure your hedges around your house a no more than 3 feet tall so you do not provide a thief with a hiding spot, and make sure all of the surrounding trees are trimmed to a 6 foot high for the same reason.
4. If you have the mini blinds, make sure you have the rounded side facing out and not facing in so that when someone tries to peek into your house all they will see is your ceiling, not the floor plan and all the things you have.
5. If you have an answering machine, just say sorry we are busy and cannot come to the phone please leave your message. Any other explanation is an invitation to a break in.
6. If you are away please ask your trusted neighbors to take in all of your mail and newspaper deliveries, and park his or her car in your driveway at night, leave at least one light on a timer even when you are home, have someone mow your lawn/plow the snow, and leave a radio on so it looks like someone is home.
7. If you have the sliding glass windows please make sure you have longer screws in the upper frame that come just barely touching the top of the sliding window frame so it cannot be lifted and taken out, and put a bar in the track so it cannot be opened, plus lock them at all times when closed.
8. Have all your neighbors on the street become members of your local Neighborhood Watch program with your local police department.
9. Make sure to close and lock your garage doors when no one is home as that is an open invitation for theft of your snow blower, lawnmower, power tools, bikes, and garden tools.
10. Get to know who your neighbors are as that is also the best way to protect them as well as yourself.