Every since I got into computers, some 15 years ago, I have been very careful with EVERYTHING with my name, account numbers, etc, on it.
Yea, I was a junior cracker a long time ago. I was facinated with how easy it was to gather information about a person. That was when I realized that I need to do something to protect myself.
Mainly at the beginning I would have to worry about other crackers. It was game of one-up-manship. First was trying to find their real name, then you would go on and find their address, phone number, accounts, etc, while they were doing the same to you.
When it dawned on me that I wasn't as good as the other guys, in getting their info. I decided it was best to drop out of that life and make sure to cover my info.
Since then it has just become habit to shred EVERY piece of mail with my name on it. Even if it just has my name and address on it, in the shredder it goes. NEVER leave any reciept behind, take it home and keep it for cross referencing statements, then shred them.
Every now and then, when at the ATM I look at the left over reciepts. It is interesting to see balances, partial account info, etc.
I still have a hard time buying things online. I usually have two credit cards. One for in person purchases, the other for when I have to use online purchases. I keep them seperate at all times. I make sure the "online" card has the best protection policy. I don't care about the interest rate on that one, it gets paid off every month, no mater what.
I know that I am paranoid. But so far, so good.