You work hard everyday to earn a living and hopefully acquire a savings that will serve you well down the road. You’ve even taken extra precautions to keep your credit score clean so you can enjoy a debt free life. What happens then, when you find out someone has acquired a credit card in your name and is using it to run up thousands of dollars that you are now responsible for paying? Identity theft is a definite problem in the world today, and protecting yourself from it has never been more important.
There are many ways to use someone else’s identity. Steeling information to obtain credit cards is only the beginning. What if someone opened a bank account in your name or committed a crime posing as you? It may take years to recover from this type of theft. Knowing how it can happen to you is an important way to prevent it.
Financial fraud is, perhaps, the most common type of identity theft. This includes: credit card fraud, bank fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud and mail fraud to name only a few types. Others can take the form of a financial element, but are committed to fund some sort of criminal activity. This is the type of identity fraud that actually involves the assuming of another’s identity. This type is used to commit a crime, enter into another country or to get a special permit. There are many other ways in which criminals use this type of identity theft as well, but these are among the most common. So how does it all work?
Criminals are constantly watching for opportunities. That person who is standing in the check out line at the super market may be a good candidate if he or she is holding a credit or debit card in plain view of a criminal. Some criminals are also good at reading numbers upside down, so don’t be fooled into thinking you just need to turn your card around. One way of protecting yourself is to cover the numbers when you must hold the card face up. If you are not using the card, but will be momentarily, hold it face down and cover the signature and three digit code on the back so no one can see them.
The Internet has opened up new ways in which one’s identity can be stolen. Have you ever received an E-Mail asking you for personal information? While some of these are very blatant attempts to acquire information, others are delivered in a more subtle fashion. For example, you may receive a message from your Internet provider asking you to verify personal information. You are told in this E-Mail that failure to do so will result in suspension of your account and will also be told this is for your own protection. This type of message could be sent in reference to any type of account, but this particular one comes to mind because this trick has been tried and played. Should you receive any E-Mail you u deem suspicious, call the company in which it is in reference and ask about its validity.
E-Mail fraud is one of the most common types of identity theft. Once the requested information is given, criminals can have access to bank accounts, credit card numbers, E-Mail user names and passwords and a whole host of information that could garner negative results.
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