The holidays are prime time for ID theft

Be Smart About Your Smartphone If you use a smartphone, make sure you have a passcode or other lock on it “so thieves cannot access apps you use to make purchases if you lose your phone,” Reese says. And don’t save receipts on your phone or on public computer hard drives; if they get into the wrong hands, thieves can steal personal information from them. If you use your smartphone or tablet to pay bills, conduct banking, or shop online, refrain from doing so unless you’re home, at your office, or in another place with a secure Wi-Fi connection. Avoid entering private information when using an unsecured, or public, Wi-Fi network, such as those available in coffee shops or hotels, says Lynn Ballou, managing partner of Ballou Plum Wealth Advisors in Lafayette, Calif. “It's so easy to forget this when we have time between flights to a holiday destination and want to do a little online retail therapy or pay some bills while at the airport. You never know who's lurking.”