Mar 6
0
Identity Theft Is A Real Threat To Your Credit
Posted on Saturday, March 6, 2010 in Identity theft Knowledge Base
Identity theft is a real threat. It occurs when someone obtains credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, bank account information or other pieces of private information and uses them to commit some sort of fraud or deception, usually for financial gain. 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, also known as ID theft is a crime in which a criminal obtains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, in order to pose as someone else. The information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services using the victims name.
Victims might spend months or even years regaining their credit worthiness. In the meantime, the victims find it difficult to obtain loans, get a job, an apartment, or even write checks. Victims of economic crimes are encouraged to contact the following companies when their identity has been compromised by criminal activity.
Consumers were asked to name institutions where fraudulent accounts were created or where their accounts were affected by fraudulent activity. While the size of banks could be estimated by the amount of money they held in deposits, no such measure is available for telecommunications firms.
Consumers can protect themselves from identity theft in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most effective shield is a “credit freeze.”.Under a law proposed by my office and passed by the General Assembly, consumers can have one of the major credit rating agencies “freeze” their credit.
Luckily, I have a good agent that told me about it over a year ago. Look for any unauthorized accounts as well as numerous requests for your information from prospective creditors, which may indicate that someone is attempting to open accounts using your information. If you discover any unauthorized use of your personal information, you should contact your local law enforcement.
Last year, the government lost two computer discs containing government records on 25 million people. And in January the Ministry of Defense admitted it had lost control of a laptop containing unencrypted records on 600,000 prospective military recruits.
Identity theft is a felony crime; however, police cannot help with your credit record or undo the damage that has been done. Delayed discovery of identity theft and the various ways criminals can now gain access to your personal information, can complicate a criminal investigation. Identity theft often goes undectected.
Within a month of being committed, half of the crimes still remain unnoticed. Identity theft has grown at an astounding rate since the widespread adoption of the Internet. Every day new news appears about incidents of identity theft, new methods of theft, and cutting edge technologies designed to protect your identity.
Contact your local police department and ask to file a criminal complaint. Some police departments aren’t too thrilled to do this, since it is a very difficult case to pursue. Contact your banks and have them help you obtain new account numbers for all your accounts. Pick a new PIN number for ATM and debit cards.
By: Gregory Wadel
About the Author:
Identity theft, also known as ID theft is a crime in which a criminal obtains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, in order to pose as someone else. The information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services using the victims name.
Victims might spend months or even years regaining their credit worthiness. In the meantime, the victims find it difficult to obtain loans, get a job, an apartment, or even write checks. Victims of economic crimes are encouraged to contact the following companies when their identity has been compromised by criminal activity.
Consumers were asked to name institutions where fraudulent accounts were created or where their accounts were affected by fraudulent activity. While the size of banks could be estimated by the amount of money they held in deposits, no such measure is available for telecommunications firms.
Consumers can protect themselves from identity theft in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most effective shield is a “credit freeze.”.Under a law proposed by my office and passed by the General Assembly, consumers can have one of the major credit rating agencies “freeze” their credit.
Luckily, I have a good agent that told me about it over a year ago. Look for any unauthorized accounts as well as numerous requests for your information from prospective creditors, which may indicate that someone is attempting to open accounts using your information. If you discover any unauthorized use of your personal information, you should contact your local law enforcement.
Last year, the government lost two computer discs containing government records on 25 million people. And in January the Ministry of Defense admitted it had lost control of a laptop containing unencrypted records on 600,000 prospective military recruits.
Identity theft is a felony crime; however, police cannot help with your credit record or undo the damage that has been done. Delayed discovery of identity theft and the various ways criminals can now gain access to your personal information, can complicate a criminal investigation. Identity theft often goes undectected.
Within a month of being committed, half of the crimes still remain unnoticed. Identity theft has grown at an astounding rate since the widespread adoption of the Internet. Every day new news appears about incidents of identity theft, new methods of theft, and cutting edge technologies designed to protect your identity.
Contact your local police department and ask to file a criminal complaint. Some police departments aren’t too thrilled to do this, since it is a very difficult case to pursue. Contact your banks and have them help you obtain new account numbers for all your accounts. Pick a new PIN number for ATM and debit cards.
By: Gregory Wadel
About the Author:
Gregory Wadel
Resources For Credit Repair and Debt Help
May 20
Should you be Afraid of Identity Theft
Posted on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in Identity theft Knowledge Base
Most of us are afraid of darkness. When we see dark alleys or deserted roads, we tend to find other ways of getting to our destination without passing through those dark pathways.
Most of us are afraid of death. We do not want to imagine ourselves placed in a coffin and be buried six feet below the ground. Sometimes, we wish that we live in this world forever, for we do not know what life is waiting for us after death.
But how many of us are afraid of identity theft? If you know nothing about identity theft, probably you will just wonder what it is. Is it a terrible feeling or a mysterious thing that should be paid close attention?
However, for millions of identity theft victims, the term is enough to be scared of. If possible, they do not want to hear that word again, for it brought misery and serious trouble into their lives.
What you should be afraid of identity theft? Does such thing could kill you?
If you cannot handle it, probably it will lead to your death, which you do not want to happen.
Identity theft is the assumption of your identity by another individual. He/she will assume your identity and take full control of whatever you have in your life—personal assets, bank accounts, and others. That is one thing that you should be afraid of identity theft. Such crime can lead your life to financial chaos, especially if your identity was stolen by a convicted criminal or a member of a high-profiled syndicate.
Supposedly you are running a successful business and you managed to increase your earnings every year. However, once a crook steals your identity, he will now present himself as “you”. He will use your identifying personal information for whatever reasons it may give him an advantage.
He will use your identity to steal money from you. Since he can pose himself to be you, he can have full control over your finances, especially if he managed to steal your bank account or credit card numbers. He can make withdrawals and use your credit cards to purchase anything he wants. Your credit rating may be affected, especially if you cannot settle your credits courtesy of identity thieves.
He may use your identity to get away from the hot pursuit conducted by police authorities. The criminals will use your identity to hide themselves from the authorities, thus giving them the freedom to get out of the country without being noticed.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there is an estimated 10 million identity victims each year, 90 percent of which are adults and the remaining percentage are older individuals. In addition, $6.4 billion are lost due to identity theft, thus making it one of the dangerous crimes in the financial and personal lives of ordinary individuals.
You should not be afraid of the dark anymore. Moreover, you should be brave enough to face death, since it is a natural phenomenon that will happen to each of us. However, you must be brave enough to protect yourself against identity theft. And if ever you became a victim of this very dangerous crime, do not let the perpetrators go away as simple as that. You must be brave enough to defend your right against malicious use of your identity and bring them to justice.
By: Bob Janeway
About the Author:
Most of us are afraid of death. We do not want to imagine ourselves placed in a coffin and be buried six feet below the ground. Sometimes, we wish that we live in this world forever, for we do not know what life is waiting for us after death.
But how many of us are afraid of identity theft? If you know nothing about identity theft, probably you will just wonder what it is. Is it a terrible feeling or a mysterious thing that should be paid close attention?
However, for millions of identity theft victims, the term is enough to be scared of. If possible, they do not want to hear that word again, for it brought misery and serious trouble into their lives.
What you should be afraid of identity theft? Does such thing could kill you?
If you cannot handle it, probably it will lead to your death, which you do not want to happen.
Identity theft is the assumption of your identity by another individual. He/she will assume your identity and take full control of whatever you have in your life—personal assets, bank accounts, and others. That is one thing that you should be afraid of identity theft. Such crime can lead your life to financial chaos, especially if your identity was stolen by a convicted criminal or a member of a high-profiled syndicate.
Supposedly you are running a successful business and you managed to increase your earnings every year. However, once a crook steals your identity, he will now present himself as “you”. He will use your identifying personal information for whatever reasons it may give him an advantage.
He will use your identity to steal money from you. Since he can pose himself to be you, he can have full control over your finances, especially if he managed to steal your bank account or credit card numbers. He can make withdrawals and use your credit cards to purchase anything he wants. Your credit rating may be affected, especially if you cannot settle your credits courtesy of identity thieves.
He may use your identity to get away from the hot pursuit conducted by police authorities. The criminals will use your identity to hide themselves from the authorities, thus giving them the freedom to get out of the country without being noticed.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there is an estimated 10 million identity victims each year, 90 percent of which are adults and the remaining percentage are older individuals. In addition, $6.4 billion are lost due to identity theft, thus making it one of the dangerous crimes in the financial and personal lives of ordinary individuals.
You should not be afraid of the dark anymore. Moreover, you should be brave enough to face death, since it is a natural phenomenon that will happen to each of us. However, you must be brave enough to protect yourself against identity theft. And if ever you became a victim of this very dangerous crime, do not let the perpetrators go away as simple as that. You must be brave enough to defend your right against malicious use of your identity and bring them to justice.
By: Bob Janeway
About the Author:
Bob is the owner of http://identitytheft.knowsmart.com which is an up-to-date, informative identity theft website.
Apr 22
Articles Concerning Identity Theft
Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 in Identity theft Knowledge Base
Identity theft is when someone else assumes your personal information and poses as you. Therefore it’s not only just a question of stealing credit card numbers. There are several ways and places where your personal information can be stolen by the identity thieves.
There are four different categories of identity theft; they include business or commercial identity theft, identity cloning, criminal identity theft, and financial identity theft.
People use identity theft for different reasons. There are those who can use identity theft to blackmail someone, use it for terrorist activities, or illegal immigration. Identity cloning is mostly used for online credit card processing. Those who use identity theft for non financial purposes could use them to get attention for the victim’s achievement, which is also referred to as media identity theft.
Financial identity theft is mostly used for bank fraud whereby the identity thief is able to impersonate someone else and manage to obtain a loan from a financial institution by presenting all the accurate information of the victim to the bank, especially if the transaction is carried out online.
This type of crime is referred to as non-self-revealing and it’s quite common since the perpetrator doesn’t have to show his face. However, if the funds are released, the authorities can still be able to track down the criminal. Once the money is given, the financial institution is never paid back whereas the criminal keeps the money while the victim is accused of defaulting on a loan that was never authorized by the victim.
In cases of identity concealment and cloning, the criminal impersonates the victim by acquiring the victim’s personal identifiers for the sole reason of concealing himself from the authorities. This is mostly done by people working in foreign countries, a person who wants to avoid arrest or someone who wants to avoid other individuals or creditors.
This kind of identity theft crime is known to go on for a long period of time, and the perpetrator may go on to obtain fraudulent IDs that go as far as making the criminal more authentic .
Most of these criminals get the personal identifiers of their victims from dumpster diving, shoulder surfing, smart cards, or by infiltration of organizations that keep large amounts of personal information. Even social online network services that happen to expose the personal details of users can be an easy target for identity thieves.
When there is a serious breach of privacy, the possibility of a criminal getting your personal identifiers becomes much easier. As much as some of the personal identifiers are got through burglary or theft, the best strategy for potential victims is to protect themselves from such thieves by whatever means possible by ensuring that their personal information is safe and secure at all times. ?
By: Bill Protresi
About the Author:
There are four different categories of identity theft; they include business or commercial identity theft, identity cloning, criminal identity theft, and financial identity theft.
People use identity theft for different reasons. There are those who can use identity theft to blackmail someone, use it for terrorist activities, or illegal immigration. Identity cloning is mostly used for online credit card processing. Those who use identity theft for non financial purposes could use them to get attention for the victim’s achievement, which is also referred to as media identity theft.
Financial identity theft is mostly used for bank fraud whereby the identity thief is able to impersonate someone else and manage to obtain a loan from a financial institution by presenting all the accurate information of the victim to the bank, especially if the transaction is carried out online.
This type of crime is referred to as non-self-revealing and it’s quite common since the perpetrator doesn’t have to show his face. However, if the funds are released, the authorities can still be able to track down the criminal. Once the money is given, the financial institution is never paid back whereas the criminal keeps the money while the victim is accused of defaulting on a loan that was never authorized by the victim.
In cases of identity concealment and cloning, the criminal impersonates the victim by acquiring the victim’s personal identifiers for the sole reason of concealing himself from the authorities. This is mostly done by people working in foreign countries, a person who wants to avoid arrest or someone who wants to avoid other individuals or creditors.
This kind of identity theft crime is known to go on for a long period of time, and the perpetrator may go on to obtain fraudulent IDs that go as far as making the criminal more authentic .
Most of these criminals get the personal identifiers of their victims from dumpster diving, shoulder surfing, smart cards, or by infiltration of organizations that keep large amounts of personal information. Even social online network services that happen to expose the personal details of users can be an easy target for identity thieves.
When there is a serious breach of privacy, the possibility of a criminal getting your personal identifiers becomes much easier. As much as some of the personal identifiers are got through burglary or theft, the best strategy for potential victims is to protect themselves from such thieves by whatever means possible by ensuring that their personal information is safe and secure at all times. ?
By: Bill Protresi
About the Author:
Bill Protresi is an online providing tips and advice. Visit Bill at Articles Concerning Identity Theft.
Mar 21
How About Identity Theft? Beware of This.
Posted on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Identity Theft, Identity Theft Protection, Lifelock
You rarely see somone on the net who has not come accross or received an email directing them to visit a familiar website where they are being asked to update their personal information? The website needs you to verify or update your passwords, credit card numbers, social security number, or even your bank account number etc. You accept the business name as one that you’ve conducted business with in the past.
So you happly and confidently click on ” take me there”
link and proceed to provide all the information they have requested.
Unfortunately, you find out much later that the website is fake. It was created with the sole intent to steal your personal statistics.
It is not at easy as you think to spot an email phishing for information. At first , the email may look like it is from a legitimate company. The “From” field of the e-mail may have the address of the company mentioned in the e-mail. The clickable link even appears to take you to the company’s website, when in fact, it is a fake website built to replicate the legitimate site.
What many victims do not know is that, these people are professional criminals. They have spent a lot of time in creating emails that look authentic. Users need to review all emails requesting personal information carefully. When reviewing your email remember that the “From Field” can be easily changed by the sender. While it may look like it is coming from a company or somebody you do business with, looks can be deceiving.
Also, keep in mind that the phisher will go all out in trying to make their email look as legitimate as possible. They will even copy logos or images from the official site in order to make it appears geniue
Finally, they also like to include a clickable link that the recipient can follow to conveniently update their information.
A great way to check the legitimacy of the link is to point at the link with your mouse. Then, look in the bottom left hand screen of your computer. The actual website address to which you are being directed will show up for you to view. It is a very quick and easy way to check if you are being directed to a legitimate site.
Follow the golden rule: do not ever click the links within the text of the e-mail, and always delete the e-mail immediately. Once you have deleted the e-mail, empty the trash box in your e-mail accounts as well. If you are truly concerned that you are missing an important notice regarding one of your accounts.Good and simple, then type the full URL address of the website into your browser. At least then you can be confident that you are, in fact, being directed to the true and legitimate site not bogus or fake website
By: Christian Okoye
About the Author:
So you happly and confidently click on ” take me there”
link and proceed to provide all the information they have requested.
Unfortunately, you find out much later that the website is fake. It was created with the sole intent to steal your personal statistics.
It is not at easy as you think to spot an email phishing for information. At first , the email may look like it is from a legitimate company. The “From” field of the e-mail may have the address of the company mentioned in the e-mail. The clickable link even appears to take you to the company’s website, when in fact, it is a fake website built to replicate the legitimate site.
What many victims do not know is that, these people are professional criminals. They have spent a lot of time in creating emails that look authentic. Users need to review all emails requesting personal information carefully. When reviewing your email remember that the “From Field” can be easily changed by the sender. While it may look like it is coming from a company or somebody you do business with, looks can be deceiving.
Also, keep in mind that the phisher will go all out in trying to make their email look as legitimate as possible. They will even copy logos or images from the official site in order to make it appears geniue
Finally, they also like to include a clickable link that the recipient can follow to conveniently update their information.
A great way to check the legitimacy of the link is to point at the link with your mouse. Then, look in the bottom left hand screen of your computer. The actual website address to which you are being directed will show up for you to view. It is a very quick and easy way to check if you are being directed to a legitimate site.
Follow the golden rule: do not ever click the links within the text of the e-mail, and always delete the e-mail immediately. Once you have deleted the e-mail, empty the trash box in your e-mail accounts as well. If you are truly concerned that you are missing an important notice regarding one of your accounts.Good and simple, then type the full URL address of the website into your browser. At least then you can be confident that you are, in fact, being directed to the true and legitimate site not bogus or fake website
By: Christian Okoye
About the Author:
For complete step by step instrution on how to safe-guuide you PC and identity send an empty email to: securitywise@getresponse.com
You can as well visit our website: www.pcautosecurity.com
Mar 13
Tips On Preventing Identity Theft
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 in Identity Scams, Identity Theft Protection, Lifelock
The number of people that have been victimized by identity theft and credit card fraud is on the rise. Each year, the losses from these cases amount to hundred of thousands, if not millions of dollars. Because of the alarming costs and the steady increase in number of cases; firms that offer protection against the crime are also multiplying. These firms offer protection and assistance in the unfortunate event that a client does get entangled in an Identity theft and credit fraud dispute.
But the fact is, most people don’t need to resort to availing the services of such firms, as long as time is available and patience is practiced. Protecting yourself from identity theft can be as simple as being cautious to whom you give your personal information or something like setting up fraud alerts for your credit cards. Below are some tips that can help you prevent identity theft easily.
CAUTION - this is probably the foremost advice that is given to anyone when identity theft is talked about. Beware who you give your personal information to. Be careful about giving away credit card numbers and your social security numbers; even employee ID numbers and Passport numbers can be used in performing identity theft and fraud. Beware also of sending the mentioned numbers and details over unsecured email connections and even shady online stores.
NO TO PRE-APPROVED CREDIT CARDS AND JUNK MAIL - One of the main functions provided by some identity theft protection firms is to remove your name from the list of pre-approved credit cards and junk mail. This is done because some identity thieves can use this in getting your information. You can do this task by simply not responding to junk email and pre-approved credit card offer.
If you do want them to stop arriving, you can contact the customer support numbers listed on the mail that you receive. That way, you can request that they take your name off their list. This can be very taxing, but the result is that you no longer get pesky junk mail, plus you eliminate a potential source where thieves can get hold of your sensitive info.
ANTI-SPYWARE - Thieves getting your information via the web may seem like something straight out of a John Grisham novel, but it can indeed happen. More people have fallen victim to identity theft and credit fraud than in any other way. What is spyware you ask? Spyware is a Computer Software that is installed in your computer without you knowing. It can be installed manually - someone gets in physical contact with your PC. It can also be installed remotely; anyone anywhere can easily install a Spyware program just by using their own computer. You can also download Spyware unknowingly when you download unsecured shareware.
Spyware works by monitoring your activity on the computer and stealthily sending it to another. It can gather important information such as passwords, frequented sites, birth date and other personal info. This can be exploited by tedious hackers and use the data to represent you in fraudulent transactions.
By: Puripong Koomsin
About the Author:
But the fact is, most people don’t need to resort to availing the services of such firms, as long as time is available and patience is practiced. Protecting yourself from identity theft can be as simple as being cautious to whom you give your personal information or something like setting up fraud alerts for your credit cards. Below are some tips that can help you prevent identity theft easily.
CAUTION - this is probably the foremost advice that is given to anyone when identity theft is talked about. Beware who you give your personal information to. Be careful about giving away credit card numbers and your social security numbers; even employee ID numbers and Passport numbers can be used in performing identity theft and fraud. Beware also of sending the mentioned numbers and details over unsecured email connections and even shady online stores.
NO TO PRE-APPROVED CREDIT CARDS AND JUNK MAIL - One of the main functions provided by some identity theft protection firms is to remove your name from the list of pre-approved credit cards and junk mail. This is done because some identity thieves can use this in getting your information. You can do this task by simply not responding to junk email and pre-approved credit card offer.
If you do want them to stop arriving, you can contact the customer support numbers listed on the mail that you receive. That way, you can request that they take your name off their list. This can be very taxing, but the result is that you no longer get pesky junk mail, plus you eliminate a potential source where thieves can get hold of your sensitive info.
ANTI-SPYWARE - Thieves getting your information via the web may seem like something straight out of a John Grisham novel, but it can indeed happen. More people have fallen victim to identity theft and credit fraud than in any other way. What is spyware you ask? Spyware is a Computer Software that is installed in your computer without you knowing. It can be installed manually - someone gets in physical contact with your PC. It can also be installed remotely; anyone anywhere can easily install a Spyware program just by using their own computer. You can also download Spyware unknowingly when you download unsecured shareware.
Spyware works by monitoring your activity on the computer and stealthily sending it to another. It can gather important information such as passwords, frequented sites, birth date and other personal info. This can be exploited by tedious hackers and use the data to represent you in fraudulent transactions.
By: Puripong Koomsin
About the Author:
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