Seniors learned to take care of their identities, their heartsand their stomachs Thursday at a seminar held at Jimmy FurlowSenior Citizen Center.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service offered thethree-part seminar to remind seniors how to be conscious of theirhearts and their nutritional health, but also pointing out waysthey can be sure that their identities remain their own.

Extension Service representative Shretta Varnado told theseniors that people who want to steal their identities will stop atalmost nothing – including theft, dumpster diving, and puttingtogether shredded paper – in order to get their personalinformation.

“An informed consumer is a protected consumer,” Varnado said.”The more we inform ourselves, that’s the way we minimize ourrisk.”

Varnado said there are three “Ds” in protecting against identitytheft: Deter, detect and defend.

“It takes your hard-earned money and your time to get yourcredit cleaned up once they’ve got it,” she said. “And no one isexempt.”

In order to deter theft, Varnado said, one important investmentis a shredder. And while it would seem a regular shredder shouldwork fine, a cross-cutting shredder is a much betterinvestment.

“It takes a whole lot of energy to put together those longstrips, but they’ll do it,” she said. “The one that cross-cutsmakes that little confetti paper.”

Also, senior citizens need to make sure the people who havetheir personal information are trustworthy, Varnado said.

“Research proves a lot of senior citizens’ identifications arestolen by family members,” she said. “Make sure whoever you appointto be the manager of your business affairs is trustworthy.”

And it’s important to never give out information if you aren’tsure of who you’re giving it to, Varnado said.

“Don’t use obvious passwords, like your birthday,” she said.”Come up with something weird and write it in your diary somewhere.Then keep your personal information somewhere safe, especially ifyou have a roommate, or outside help or outside workers coming intoyour home.”

In order to detect identity theft, Varnado said, it is importantto routinely monitor accounts and billing statements to ensureawareness of everything spent.

“Make sure to go through your invoices and look for bills thatdon’t arrive as expected,” she said. “Also look for denied loans,unexpected credit card statements, and purchases you didn’tmake.”

Once identity theft is detected, it’s important to act asquickly as possible, Varnado told the group.

“Don’t delay. It will not disappear,” she said while alsoencouraging the seniors to place a fraud alert on their creditreports. In addition, she said, a police report is key to gettingthings cleaned up when identity theft is detected, as is reportingit to the Federal Trade Commission.

In order to defend, she said, don’t leave sensitive informationout in the open at home or in the office. Also, when an unsolicitedphone call comes in from a business, don’t stay on the telephone,Varnado said.

“I know we all live down here in the South, and we want to behospitable,” she said. “But you need to just hang up. If you’rehaving a conversation, it could cost you later.”