A 65-year-old man’s mail was wrongfully sent to a San Antonio resident who used his personal information to buy a Mercedes-Benz and pay rent — how to avoid being a victim of identity theft

Forward your mail

Though mail errors happen, you can avoid having your mail go to the wrong address by proactively forwarding all of your mail — whether you’re moving permanently or relocating temporarily.

Any time you move, you can set up mail forwarding from your old address to your new one, according to the U.S. Postal Service. This means your mail will end up in your hands.

The forwarding process is also a helpful reminder of which government organizations, banks or companies have your address on file — and who you need to call to change your address. This will prevent new residents at your old address from being able to access your information.

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Monitor your credit

Holiday opened up more than 60 fraudulent accounts under the senior’s name — most of which were classified as delinquent.

But those accounts would have come up on a credit report, potentially even before getting called by a debt collector. If you monitor yours on a regular basis, you can keep your eye out for possible fraudulent activity.

There are a variety of free online services that provide credit reports from credit bureaus so you can check on your accounts. Many of these bureaus will notify you when a new account has been opened so that you can keep tabs on your account without having to constantly log in to the bureau’s website.

Shred documents

Holiday just so happened to have a piece of mail containing sensitive information delivered to his front door. But even when you recycle mail you no longer need to file away, it’s still accessible to those who may be looking for it.

Bank statements, phone bills and government notices contain personal information only you should see. Instead of tossing your personal information into the trash — where someone could see it and then take it — make sure to shred any paper with sensitive material on it.

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Don’t share your passwords

Though it may be nice to be able to call someone up when you forget your bank account password, you shouldn’t share that information with anyone.

You never know when someone could take advantage of you. Actor Sharon Stone had $18 million stolen from her accounts because someone had access to her information while she healed from a stroke.

If you can never remember your passwords, signing up for a secure password manager is a great way to keep them all in one place under one common security code.

Practicing all of these security methods at once can help prevent a similar situation from happening — or put an early stop to it if it does.