Identity Theft-4 Ways to Protect Your Identity

posted on: Apr 12, 2019

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Identity Theft – 4 Ways to Protect Your Identity

The knowledge age has brought various innovative developments and breakthroughs to our day-to-day lives. Smartphones, laptops, and the world wide web are making things easier and more accessible.

On the other hand, just like every other moment in the history, new developments provide an opportunity for people who try to do any harm to you or steal from you something to access your hard-earned money or your most private belongings and your identity.

So, what is identity theft? Identity theft is actually the process of someone using an identity which is not their own for any sort of transaction, notification, or service. Sounds fancy huh? Let us break it down.

If a person pretends to be you to be able to sell, buy, announce, claim, promote, advertise, or steal, then they are committing identity fraud.

Identity fraud is more than just a person who stole the security password of your Google e-mail; it’s an annoying experience that usually leaves the victims feeling desperate and confused on how to restore their identity, let alone how to protect their properties and assets.

They can easily make use of your identity to open phone accounts in your own name, defame another person, or the horrible credit card account in your identity.

Don’t you think identity fraud is real enough for you to concern yourself with it?

Think about this, 1 out of every 10 people is a victim of identity fraud.

Listed here are five proven tips that can certainly help you repel identity fraud.

1) Dumpster Diving

Identity criminals will usually get your private information by going through trash and some other disposed items. It’s usually the single most prevalent and simplest ways for identity criminals to steal your information.

On the other hand, this particular threat can easily be eradicated with a little bit of due groundwork. Get yourself document shredders, and shred papers you receive in the postal mail that have any private information on it. This includes your company name and address or your own name.

If you’re internet savvy, you can easily stop financial statements from being sent via the postal mail, like utility bills and bank statements. Check the postal mail on a regular basis and deliver financial mail via the postal service directly, not from your mailbox.

To put it differently, do not put checks in the postal mail using your mailbox, con artists have been known to drive around and obtain all these personal identification items.

2) Keep an Eye on Your Identification

Prejudice is definitely not bliss when it comes to identity fraud.

To avoid identity fraud or cut down its potential effect, you need to be ready to keep an eye on your identification. Which means, you should check financial accounts you own at least once a week.

This includes credit cards, utility bills, and bank accounts. Try to find any activity that you did not approve; it doesn’t matter what the charge was. Identity fraud may usually start off as a $3.00 charge to your bank account, as fraudsters observe if they can easily use your personal information.

In case you get notices in the postal mail or the e-mail about financial records you did not set up, do not just trash them, investigate and make sure that they’re not the ones you own.

If you’re denied credit or are getting calls from lenders, then you may have already been a victim of identity fraud. Most importantly, get in touch with each of the 3 credit reporting agencies and get an annual copy of your credit history.

3) Inventory Your Purse or Wallet

Statistics state that 95.5% of people in America carry either a purse or wallet with them all the time. Having said that, is it possible to list out the specific items in your purse or wallet?

As most of these items are of high value to identity crooks, you have to be prepared to do something in the ill-fated situation that your purse or wallet is stolen. You should make this list today and keep it at your home or your office.

If your purse or wallet is stolen, you should definitely call each and every agency responsible for these items on the list within the first twenty-four hours and take appropriate steps to void out all those stolen items. This hands-on approach will certainly save you both the agony of trying to remember exactly what you have in your purse and the annoyance of having your personal information stolen.

Another note, never ever keep your social security number with you. Memorize it and keep it away in a secure place.

4) Phishing Attacks

A phishing attack is when a fraudster makes an attempt to obtain information from you by acting to be someone they are actually not.

In many cases, it can certainly be related to online frauds, but that’s not the case in every situation. For instance, I was approached four years ago by a “law office” saying that there was an arrest warrant issued on my name in their state, and they wanted to know my ss #, full name, and address by telephone to make sure I was not the person being charged.

They sounded official enough and gave a great speech. I then provided those things that I memorized in my head, and after a couple of hours, they found that I was being used by another person who stole my information and was using it for his own benefits.