What are the last 4 digits of your social and mother's maiden name

[dr.strangelove]

I am KIDDING. But I make this ridiculous statement to make a point. I was the victim of identity theft in 2000. They opened up several credit cards, bought two cars and tried to get a line of credit before they got caught. It took me two years to clean up my credit and Experian and TransUnion still won't take off one credit card.

I think we all need to be careful about giving out things like your mother's maiden name, birth dates, local towns or address and things like that. DU is a public forum which anyone can look for IDs to steal.

I know threads like "Whats your porn star name" are fun, but giving out you mother's maiden name and birth date (which sometimes isn't hard to get here either) gives the primary telephone ID tools to a crook. If another post uses your first name and town, the clever crook will track you down using software you probably got Spammed about 10X already today.

Sorry to be a spoilsport, and please feel free to post any personal info you like. I just wanted to give you something to think about first.

[qb]

1. 5512, Jones

What??? You were kidding? How do I erase this?

On edit - Thank you for bringing up this important topic. My wife and I are fanatical about shredding any personal data from credit card applications, etc.