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Identity theft is an on-going crime that is costing American consumers billions of dollars and unlimited heartache every year. Although you can not entirely control whether you will become a victim, you can take steps to minimize your risk. Learn how to protect your identity online.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), our nation’s consumer protection agency, recommends consumers Deter, Detect and Defend to help decrease identity theft.
To deter these criminals you can safeguard your information. You can do this by shredding financial documents and paperwork with your information before you throw them away. Do not be so ready to give out your Social Security number. Inquire if there is another identifier method you can use. Do not give out personal information over the phone, unless you know who you are talking to. As them to send you the necessary paperwork and tell them you will complete it and return it to them.
If you are like me, I get a lot of phone calls asking for donations. I always tell the person who is calling that if they want to send me information on their organization I will look it over and decide if it is something I want to contribute to. Nine times out of ten I never receive anything in the mail.
Be on your guard and take the necessary steps to detect unusual activity on your accounts. Set up a schedule to routinely monitor your billing statements. If you do not receive a statement when you feel you should have, contact your credit card company.
If after being diligent to protect your identity you feel your identity has been compromised take the following steps:
Notify the fraud department of any one of the three consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). Ask them to put a fraud alert on your credit report. This will alert creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts in your name or making any changes to your existing accounts. It is only necessary to contact one of these agencies to request an alert.
If you suspect any newly fraudulently opened accounts or tampered accounts take action to close these.
Report these fraudulent actions to the police department where the identity fraud took place. Submit a copy of the report, or at least the case number on the report , to your creditors and others who require proof of this crime.
The FTC keeps a database of identity theft cases received from law enforcement agencies for investigation. File your claim with the FTC.
Surfing the Internet is a daily occurrence for an increasing number of people these days, as technology expands and online services continue to grow. Many people go online to carry out banking transactions, shop, check e-mail, and catch up on news. That’s why it’s more important than ever to protect your identity while surfing the web. As identity theft becomes more prevalent, it’s necessary for everyone to be extra vigilant in protecting personal information before it gets into the wrong hands.
Every time you go online and conduct some type of transaction, whether it is monetary or an exchange of information, you put your identity at risk. Unfortunately, criminals use the Internet too, making use of the technology to perpetrate identity theft. This type of cyber-criminal gathers personal information online and either sells it to others for profit, or uses it to their own purpose.
It is fortunate that there are many things you can do to stay one step ahead of these “thieves” and keep your identity as safe as possible. The Internet platform is always changing, so you need to keep on top of things to remain as safe as possible.
To begin with you should learn about how to avoid phishing scams. Phishers pretend to be trustworthy, actual companies, such as banks and insurance companies, by using false e-mail addresses and websites. To access their websites people are tricked into giving them personal identifying information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
The important thing to remember is that real institutions will never ask you to verify your personal information online. When you receive these types of e-mails, contact the sender immediately over the phone to validate the request. This way you can provide any necessary information directly to your bank or other company.
Phishers use spam e-mail as a way to obtain your personal passwords and information. For this reason be sure to have a good spam filter installed on your computer to keep out as much spam as possible. As the old saying goes, “better safe than sorry.”
While on the issue of software, Windows already contains a basic firewall program, but setting up another program will ensure your safety from hackers, allow you to control internet traffic and stop intruders from reaching your personal information.
Purchase a high-quality virus protection package. This can help prevent and eliminate viruses, Trojan horses, and other dangerous items designed to steal your personal information. It will also scan e-mail and IM attachments for viruses. It is not enough to stop with just antivirus software. Go one step further and equip your computer with the most up-to-date anti-spyware protection. One word of advice, before installing your necessary protection check to be sure that all of your systems are compatible. This can cause you a great deal of frustration and expense if they are not. If you are not sure, it is worth a call to your local computer repair shop.
Scam artists are known to intercept e-mails and IMs. For this reason do not sent any personal information through these methods of communication.
In opening your email, avoid opening suspicious emails or emails from unknown people. Especially be wary of opening attachments. I recently watched a “Medium” show on TV where a hacker had hacked into the City Hall’s computer system and sent out emails asking for update voter’s information. This was the means that was used to accumulate personal identity information. Might not have actually happened but does make one think.
To prevent ID theft it is advisable to password protect your computers, laptops and PDAs. Use a different unique user name and password for each item. Another word of warning, do not use the same user name or password for your accounts or activities online. If a criminal discovers your user name and password on one account you want it to stop right there. Use letters, numbers and special characters when creating your passwords. Be sure your passwords are not “obvious”.
It is a good idea to keep the personal information that you store on your computer to a minimum. What would happen if your computer was stolen? I invested in an external hard drive and my personal information is stored there.
A final tip – when you buy a new computer, before disposing of your old computer invest in software know as wipe programs or shredders to overwrite the data with zeroes or random patterns which will make the information on your hard drive virtually unreadable.
I hope that this information will be helpful in helping you to protect your identity online. Use your common sense and purchase a few good tech tools to assure your safety again these cyber criminals.
Judy Conway
Email: judyconwarymarketing@gmail.com
Skype ID: judy.conway
http://fullservicemarketingtools.com
http://homebusinessinatlanta.com
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