Protecting Your Identity as an Affiliate Marketer

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 3:53 pm

Maybe I’m just too trusting when it comes to disclosing my information to various websites I partner with to make money.

As an example:

Affiliate sites always ask for your social security number and your date of birth. I’m affiliated with approximately 15 programs. All of which I have conducted in-depth research for complaints of violation notices of some sort. If the searches yield nothing but praise, I sign up – no problem.

Is there honestly that big of a risk of your identity being stolen from a source as such?

I guess I don’t think about it so much because I live in a small rural area where the gals at my bank know me by face and name and should anything look fishy on my account, I’m notified immediately.

But for those who don’t have that luxury, when is it too much.

My Questions to You are:

Is there a real risk of disclosing your birthday? Should you just choose another ‘fake’ birthday (perhaps your mothers birth DAY but YOUR birth YEAR)?

What other information should never be shared and what can be done to protect your identity?

What sort of precautions do you take when looking for affiliate partnerships?

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