Identity Theft Articles

Identity thieves are becoming more sophisticated with every passing day. Don’t wait until it’s to late. Identity theft can happen anywhere to anyone. In line at the store, online at home or when you’re buying your morning coffee. Identity theft is one of the most common problems that people face today. Any of your personal information can be used to commit the crime.

Identity theft-protection company Lifelock is in the news this morning. The company, headed by CEO Todd Davis, is known for its challenge ad (reproduced below) which has been running for a couple of years. Identity theft can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone. Identity fraud has become a huge concern in today’s new age and even though precautions have been taken to correct the situation there has not been much success. In the US approximately 120 million citizens had their private records exposed in the last three years causing approximately 27 million Americans to become victims.

Identity theft in the most extreme cases allows people to get insurance in your name, open false bank accounts and even can provide a cover when arrested for other crimes. Ident-A-Kid’s Immediate Response Card systems utilize an extremely fast digital data acquisition system. A complete profile of each child, including fingerprint, photograph, height and weight, is acquired in less than 15 seconds. Identity theft is the most rapidly growing crime in the world. It’s now bringing in more money than drug trafficking.

Credit

Credit card fraud is the most common form of ‘identity theft.’ It threatens no liability and only a little bit of inconvenience to most consumers in the United States - consumers that are prudent, anyway. And I’ve never understood what these services would or could do to prevent or mitigate a true impersonation fraud. Credit card companies still sent actual credit cards in their pre-approval mailings and one was stolen out of my mailbox. A year later, I received a collection notice that over $2000 was charged at a retailer blocks away from my home. Credit card fraud is often confused for identity theft because of those clever commercials with the funny voice-overs but it’s really a walk in the park compared to identity theft. It won’t take just a few phone calls to clear it up either.

Credit monitoring is an afterthought. What credit monitoring is, is selling you your own data.

Fraud and Your Credit

Fraud consistently costs the consumers in the long run. No one is magically absorbing those costs without passing them along to the consumers. Fraud alert ensures that creditors call you and verify your identity before opening any new credit lines. You can put a fraud alert on your credit report yourself if you call any one of the 3 credit reporting companies.

Checkout LifeLock

Check out LifeLock and protect yourself and your family from identity theft. Check out the possible LifeLock coupon codes or LifeLock coupons that will save you money on your purchases. Now if you don’t see a promo code or discount available that may mean that Lifelock is currently not offering any savings, but they might have new deals onsite- so you can try clicking on one of the links below and find out.

Identity theft which is basically someone impersonating themselves under your name for their own benefits is a very serious crime today and widely prevalent with over 10 million cases reported in 2007 in the US alone.

So how exactly does someone get hold of your Identity?

The easiest way for a person to gain access to to your personal information is through your Social Security number. Once a person get’s hold of this he/she can very quickly get further sensitive information about you and in the end misuse this information for their own benefits.

With all of your private data in hand these phishers can easily apply for new credit cards in your name, spend a fortune with it and leave you with a handful of huge bills to be paid.

If this does happen to you, you should immediately file a report to the Social Security Administration and in case of major credit problems you should make a complaint to the Federal Trade Comission, which will take the necessary steps.

Here are a few ways in which you can easily identify whether you Social Security has been misused.

1) Check your Social Security earnings benefit statement:

This statement lists all your earnings in a given period and if there is any misinformation such as incorrect earnings, misspelled name (or) even incorrect date of birth, be sure to report to the SSA(Social Security Administration) immediately

2) Check Your Credit Report:

A credit report will provide you with detailed reports on your various financial activities so if there has been a case of identity theft (or) fraud you will be able to spot it out easily.

Problems Caused Due To Identity Theft:

If your identity has been misused heavily it could result in various problems with debt collectors, criminal investigation and also in applying for new credit cards, mortgages, loans etc.

How Do You Prevent Identity Theft?

A very safe way to prevent (or) stop identity theft is to sign up with a reliable Identity theft prevention agency. For a nominal fee these agencies will take necessary steps to safeguard and protect your personal information and your family’s security. You can also be sure that they will reimburse any money (or) other financial assets that you have lost as a result of identity theft

Identity theft is a big problem. It is the fastest growing crime, and growing every day. Your identity, security, and peace-of-mind are vulnerable and identity thieves can take advantage of you with ease.

As a result, many companies have recently been created that promise complete protection from identity theft. Many of these companies even offer guarantees that if you sign up with their plan, you will never get your identity stolen.

If you are a smart consumer, you would not believe everything you heard. And this is especially true with identity theft protection plans. Sure the price for most plans is under $15 a month, but before you hand over your money to these people, here are some things you should be aware of…

3. Not doing enough research into each protection plan

Most identity theft protection plans are very similar. However, if you do some homework, you’ll discover that some offer a little more than others. For example, most services place fraud alerts on your credit alert as a means of alerting you to criminals attempting to access your credit. One of the services goes a step further and gives you the option of placing a credit freeze on your credit report. A credit freeze is basically a stronger version of a credit alert.

Another discovery you might make with some simple research is that some companies place more emphasis on identity theft restoration than others. Identity theft is a pain to fix, and some of the protection plans will actually provide assistance with identity recovery. In my opinion this is invaluable and will save you lots of time if your identity does get stolen.

2. Believing their marketing message

Yes, identity theft stinks, and there are companies out there that will help keep your identity safe, but they also want to make money and if you completely believe what they are telling you, you may still be vulnerable to identity theft.

For example, many of the companies offer a service guarantee. In many cases its $1 million dollars. They hype up their ads with big numbers like $1 million dollars, expecting you to trust them and throw your money at them, however you have to read the fine print before purchasing their plan. These service guarantees may not have what you are looking for. Read the fine print.

Also, just because you see one or two companies advertise more often does not mean they have the best plan for you. This just means they have access to more advertising cash than their competitors.

1. Not taking your own steps to protect your identity

If you purchase an identity theft protection plan, your are still vulnerable to identity theft. You have to take steps to minimize your exposure from thieves. For example, shredding you mail, taking your name off direct mailing lists and junk mail lists, and checking your credit report will drastically reduce your risk of identity theft.

The best way to protect yourself from identity theft is to select a plan that is appropriate for you and your needs, minimizing your exposure to identity thieves, and using common sense prevention techniques.