Is it possible to avoid having your identity stolen?

Will all that shredding really keep your identity from being stolen? (PRNews Photo)

After billionaire Paul Allen’s identity was stolen by an AWOL soldier, 97.3 KIRO FM host Luke Burbank said it reaffirmed his policy of not wasting time trying to avoid such a fate.

“If it happened to Paul Allen […] it could happen to anyone,” said Burbank, in a discussion of Paul Allen’s unfortunate situation on the Ross and Burbank Show. “It does confirm my long-running life strategy of just completely disregarding the idea of trying to protect my identity.”

Burbank said he’s not trying to slight the significant impact identity theft can have on a victim.

“I know people who have had their identity stolen and it is no joke, it is years and years of trying to dig yourself out of a hole that you didn’t create, and it’s an awful thing,” said Burbank. “But I also feel like it’s almost impossible to avoid it happening to you.”

Even if you’re a public figure like Allen, there’s no reason to assume you could be any less susceptible to identity theft, experts said.

Nearly everyone has personal information readily available online – more so for public figures like Allen – that can provide answers to many basic security questions like birthdate, address, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name and high school name, said Nikki Junker of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit providing victim services and consumer education about identity theft.

Too few customers take advantage of added layers of security offered by many credit card companies, such as using unique verbal passwords or signing up for automatic alerts when account information is changed, Junker said.

“As we strive for more convenience, the safety goes down,” she said. “You would think being one of the richest men in the world would make you more careful about your account.”

Burbank said he knows a lot of people who put tons of effort into keeping email, bank statements, and other sensitive items out of the hands of would-be thieves.

Burbank said he has friends who burn their mail, and not just shred but insist on cross-shredding documents. “Then you actually put it up you put it in a food processor,” Burbank joked.

“I don’t walk around handing out my social security number to people. I don’t try go out of my way to expose myself,” said Burbank. “But I also don’t live my whole life paranoid about it happening, because to me it’s sort of like financial cancer. It might hit you, it might not. You’ve got to hope it doesn’t. If it does you’ve got to deal with it.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this story