Dec
24
18 Basic Facts you need to know about Identity Theft
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Identity theft is a serious threat
all over the world with the personal information of an individual being widely
available online and on computers. An identity theft fraud costs millions in
losses to the credit card providing companies. Committing identity theft is as
easy as acquiring the right information and using the individual data for
personal advantage. Criminals and other thieves are able to breach into the
privacy of the individuals and steal the information like name, address, date
of birth, bank numbers and credit card details. The thieves use this
information for committing frauds and other crimes.
The identity thief crimes can be of
many forms. The identity thieves can obtain a credit card, rent an apartment or
may open a bank account in your name. It is certainly very hard to figure it
out whether you are a victim of identity theft or not. You may only find out
about the theft when you check your credit card statements or credit report. The
effects of the identity theft can be monumental for those individual whose
identity has been stolen as he may be denied for any type of further loans for
education, house, car, etc. Also, there are chances that he may get arrested
for a crime that he has not committed.
Basic Facts about Identity Theft
Given below are eighteen facts of identity theft:
1. Identity theft in its strictest
sense means stealing the personal data of an individual. The personal data is
usually found in the typical credit card, the drivers license, social security
number, and also the bank account number.
Thieves are very adept at attaining your information.
2. One thing that the individual must
remember that identity theft frauds are carried out by experienced and educated
people who can use your good name for their personal gain. It is really very
unfortunate that many of these unscrupulous people get away without any
repercussions.
3. Identity theft is a type of an
economic abuse. It can be productive for the identity thieves whereas extremely
debilitating for the victim losing a lot of time and money in repairing damaged
credit.
4. Identity theft is pretty much
inconvenient for the credit card companies as well as financial institutions.
Every year financial institutions experience losses of million of dollars.
Nowadays, many credit card companies are coming up with new software's that can
detect identity theft and Internet identity theft.
5. Certain events may indicate that
you are already a victim of identity theft such as refusal of financial service
by a financial institution, getting
invoices or receipts for the goods and services that have not been asked for,
etc.
6. The identity thieves use high tech
methods to get all your information from the banks, credit card companies,
retailers, phone companies, payment processing companies, government agencies,
data-brokerage companies and so on.
7. Online identity theft is very much
prevalent today. Sometimes, a fraudulent mail is sent to an individual asking
them to update their credit card information. This fraudulent mail is prepared
in such a manner that it looks like an original and official mail. The hackers
in this way acquire the credit card information and use it for selling the
information or for making purchases.
8. One of the most common ways
through which identity thieves choose their victims is garbage picking. Hence,
it is very important to shred all personal information before throwing it in
the garbage. You can purchase a shredder
from local office supply stores.
9. There is also an infamous skimmer
used by the identity thieves to steal the personal information. A skimmer is
basically a device that can easily store hundreds of credit cards and all their
information.
10. Pretexting is one of the common
ways to commit an identity theft crime. It means impersonating another person
such that making calls under the pretext being that person. Pretexting is
generally used for gaining the personal information mainly telephone records. A
pretexting is very hard for a victim to detect.
11. One of the best ways to prevent
identity theft is to monitor your bank account and credit card statements each
month. Also do not forget to check your credit report regularly and if you
suspect any errors in the credit report then it must be immediately reported to
the banks or credit card companies.
12. If your credit cards are stolen
or lost then cancel them immediately. Always keep a note of the emergency
numbers you should call in case of any unexpected events.
13. Always keep your password and PIN
number secure. You must never give your personal or account details to any
person who contacts you unexpectedly. You must ask for their phone number,
check it is genuine and if so then call them back.
14. The individuals can also protect
their personal information by placing a ‘Fraud Alert' on their credit reports.
The credit reports must be reviewed carefully. Notifying any one of the three
nationwide consumer reporting companies is more or less sufficient.
15. The accounts that you suspect are
tampered with or opened without your knowledge must be closed immediately. File
a report with law enforcement officials so they can help you with creditors who
may ask for proof of the crime. A police report will help you a great deal in
claiming your rights as a victim of identity theft.
16. An individual can go for identity
theft insurance in order to insure himself against the devastation that an
identity theft can inflict. An identity theft insurance policy reimburses the
victims of identity theft for the costs with reestablishing their identity and
also repairing the credit reports.
17. A lot of identity theft fraud
happens through the Internet. For this purpose enhance the security features of
your computer by installing anti-spyware, anti-virus software's or firewalls.
Nowadays, identity thefts through Wi-Fi are very prevalent, and this can only
be prevented by effectively securing your routers.
18. Credit freezes also known as
credit security freezes helps to prevent your credit report being issued to
anyone. One of the benefits of a credit freeze is that it prevents the credit
reports from being gained unlawfully by the abuser.
