| Self-Help Identity Theft Protection |
| By Credit Federal |
Published
10/7/2007
|
Fraud and Scams
|
|
|
|
|
Prevent Identity Theft and Recover from Fraud
An estimated 10 million consumers are victims of identity theft every year. In some cases, it involves the misuse of a credit card, but in others, thieves can open accounts, buy property and take on huge debt in the victim's name.
Identity thieves work hard to steal your sensitive personal information. If you don't work equally hard to protect your identity, you stand a lot to lose in addition to the more difficult work of recovering from identity theft and credit fraud. The average identity theft victim spends 30-40 hours to recover.
Internet identity theft threats include:
- Phishing - This scam in an e-mail that appears to be from your bank or other online service such as PayPal or eBay, and it instructs you to click on a link and provide information to verify your account.
- Pharming or spoofing - This is when hackers redirect a legitimate website's traffic to a scam website, where they ask for your sensitive personal information.
- Smishing - This is phishing via text messaging on your smart phone, which instructs you to visit a scam Website.
- Spyware - This is when you download software or when you've opened an attachment, clicked on a popup or downloaded a song or a game which contains software that will collect your information from your computer. Thieves often use spyware to record your typing to get your passwords, credit card numbers, bank-account information, etc.
Non-Internet theft threats:
Even if you do not use the internet, there are still ways for identity thieves to get your information:
- Vishing - This is voice phishing, when you get an automated phone message asking you to call your bank or credit card company. Even your caller ID is fooled. You call the number and are asked to punch in your account number, PIN or other personal information.
- ATM skimming - This is when crooks use a fake ATM and a camera to record your account information and PIN when you use the cash machine.
- Theft and dumpster diving - Crooks may steal your wallet or get your personal information by digging through trash can or by stealing your mail.
Over half of identity theft cases involve credit card fraud, checking accounts come in second, and then there are other ways thieves can steal your identity:
At least 250,000 people have been the victim of medical identity theft in the last several years. They use your personal information to get expensive medical procedures or dupe insurance companies into paying for procedures that were not done.
Even children are at risk. About 5% of reported identity theft cases involve children. The fraud often goes undetected for years until the child grows up and applies for credit.
Free tips to protect against identity theft and credit fraud:
- You are your own first line of defense. Keep your personal information private. Since your bank and credit card company already know your account information, they won't call or email you to ask for it.
- Know what's in your wallet or purse, so you'll know if anything comes up missing. Try not to carry around account numbers which you don't really need all the time. Don't keep your Social Security card in your wallet.
- Stop bank and credit card junk mail. You can opt out of these offers.
- Monitor your bank and credit card transactions for unauthorized use. Crooks with your account numbers usually start small to verify funds and to see if anyone will notice.
- If you conduct business online, do not use a public computer, nor any computer with a wireless internet connection.
- Look for suspicious devices and don't let anyone stand nearby when you use an ATM. Take your card and receipt with you. Memorize your PIN number and do not have it written down in your purse or wallet.
- Don't use your cell phone to store credit card numbers and other financial information.
Computer identity theft protection:
- Install antivirus, antispyware and firewall protection, and keep them updated.
- Don't open emails from strangers. Malware can be hidden in embedded attachments and graphics files.
- Don't open attachments unless you know who sent them and what they contain. Never open executable attachments.
- Don't click on popups.
- Don't provide your credit card number online unless you are making a purchase from a trusted website.
- Use difficult passwords, 6 or more characters with a mix of letters and numbers. Do not use part of your name, your birthday, SSN, etc. Use a different password for every site that requires one, and change passwords regularly.
- Never send a username, password or other confidential information via email.
- Turn off your computer when you're not using it.
- Don't store passwords, tax returns and other financial information on your computer.
Tips to recover from identity theft and credit fraud:
- Place a fraud alert with the three credit bureaus. When you place an alert, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report. After that, take advantage of the free annual reports the bureaus are required to give all consumers. Stagger your requests so that you get a report every four months.
- If you've been phished, contact the bank or company named in the fraudulent email. You also may want to notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center and forward the email to spam@uce.gov
If you are the victim of identity theft, take the following steps:
- Make an identity theft report to the police and get a copy. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
- Close accounts that have been tampered with and/or which had account information stolen. Contact each company by phone and again by certified letter. Make sure the company notifies you in writing that the disputed charges have been erased. Document each conversation and keep all records.
- Place a seven year fraud alert or; if you live in a state that allows it, a "freeze" on your credit reports.
- Contact the bureaus for information on how to begin the process of removing fraudulent information from your credit reports.
Additional:
The Experian credit bureau will offer consumers the option to restrict access to individual reports in an effort to thwart ID theft.
Experian has joined the two other major credit bureaus in allowing consumers to freeze access to their credit files. Beginning Nov 1, Experian will allow any consumer across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories to place a freeze on their credit report.
A credit file freeze prevents new creditors from accessing the credit file without the consumer's consent. When a freeze is in place, an identity thief cannot open a new account because the potential creditor will not be able to check the credit file.
Consumers, meanwhile, can "unlock" their accounts temporarily if they are applying for credit or permanently if their security concerns are allayed.
Experian said freezes will be free for victims of identity theft. The fee for other consumers for a freeze; or a temporary or permanent removal of a freeze, will be $10, unless a lower fee is mandated by state law.
Similar programs already have been announced by the other major credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion.
Experian will continue to offer the placement of fraud alerts on a credit file for consumers that may be victims of identify theft at no charge.
Consumers can ask credit bureaus to put an alert on their file if they believe someone has stolen their Social Security number, credit cards or other personal data. Once an alert is in place, retailers and other would-be creditors have access to the credit reports but are supposed to do extra investigation before granting new credit in the
consumer's name.
|
Related Articles
Email this article to a friend - click here
Webmasters: Free Credit Content for Your Website!
Multiple ways to use our financial content:
*) You can use our RSS Feeds for automatic insertion and updates
*) You can simply link to this article
