identity theft prevention

Caleb Markinson asked:




Identity theft insurance coverage is big business for companies looking to profit from consumer fears. Insurance coverage provides consumers with many different ways to pay for losses. Generally, all consumer identity theft coverage policies fall into one of two categories: prevention services and insurance coverage. The problem is best avoided but since no one is one hundred percent invulnerable to identity fraud, insurance provides a nice soft place to land if you do fall victim.

Prevention Services

Credit monitoring, fraud alerts, and consumer counseling are all prevention services that provided when seeking coverage. Most lenders, all three credit reporting bureaus, and many independent companies offer some form of prevention services, but they usually provide this service for a fee. Occasionally, a lender will provide credit monitoring for free as a bonus for using their financial institution.

Typically, prevention services work about the same manner no matter the company. The service allows the company to track inquires and accounts on your credit report and notifies you immediately if something suspicious shows up on your record. Often, if identity theft does occur, the companies that offer insurance coverage will also offer assistance in the form of advice or resources. The fees for these services are customarily charged on a monthly basis and range from less than $10 to around $40 a month.

Insurance Coverage

Insurance companies wasted no time in jumping on the bandwagon by devising policies to provide coverage to identity theft victims. Some policies providing stand-alone coverage for people who don’t own homes or don’t want to include the protection with their homeowner’s policy while other policies roll the client’s homeowner policy and identity theft insurance into one. The important thing to know if you are a consumer interested in coverage is whether or not you already are covered. Read your homeowner’s insurance policy to make sure that identity theft is not already covered before purchasing additional insurance that you don’t need.

If you find that you are in need of insurance, you can rest easy knowing that premiums for coverage are very inexpensive, only about $25 to $50 a year for coverage of about $15,000 or $20,000. The policy will cover any out-of-pocket costs associated with identity theft above the deductible value.

Keep in mind that although the average victim only pays about $500 in fees and lost wages, this figure can sometimes be much larger in special circumstances. Consider your needs carefully and talk over the extent of coverage you should invest in with your insurance agent.

Ben

ScamExpert asked:

From the US Treasury Dept. Explains how to obtain free credit reports from the credit bureaus. Also explains how Fraud Alerts work and how to activate them. credit report online, free online credit report, credit free report score, 3 in 1 credit report, transunion credit report, creditreport.com, credit report personal, national credit report, cic triple advantage credit report, free annual government credit report Identity theft is a serious crime. It occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes. Identity theft can cost you time and money. It can destroy your credit and ruin your good name. Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information. ■ Shred financial documents and paperwork with personal information before you discard them. ■ Protect your Social Security number. Don’t carry your Social Security card in your wallet or write your Social Security number on a check. Give it out only if absolutely necessary or ask to use another identifier. ■ Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know who you are dealing with. ■ Never click on links sent in unsolicited emails; instead, type in a web address you know. Use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your home computer; keep them up-to-date. Visit OnGuardOnline.gov for more information. ■ Don’t use an obvious password like your birth date, your mother’s maiden name …

Monica

Jeff Kiser asked:




Identity theft prevention services do not exactly prevent identity theft. They simply make it much harder for thieves to use the personal information they have stolen, thereby protecting you against many of the techniques identity thieves use.

We give away personal information all the time. Any time you write a check at the store, charge airline tickets, rent a car, mail your tax returns, change cell phone service providers, or apply for a credit card you are giving away bits of personal information, such as your bank and credit card account numbers, your Social Security number and your name, address, and phone number. These bits and pieces are a treasure trove to an identity thief. Once thieves have this information, they can use it without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft.

For example, identity thieves can take your personal information to redirect your financial data, such as bank and credit card statements, to prevent you from noticing that your existing credit card or bank account is being used without your knowledge. Identity theft prevention services prevent this from happening. This doesn’t mean, of course, that a thief couldn’t have charged things on a stolen credit card, only that you would know about it sooner…assuming you check your monthly statements.

Protection services also prevent new accounts from being set up by identity thieves in your name. This protection is important because the only way you would know this had happened was when you began to be harassed by collection agencies or when you try to get credit, only to find your credit rating has been trashed.

Identity theft prevention services also help you should the thieves be successful, in that they will help you with the police regarding warrants as well as assist you with getting collection agencies to stop harassing you for debts that aren’t yours.

If you think that you don’t need these services because, after all, if you report your credit cards stolen, you won’t get charged for the bogus charges, think again. Identity thieves don’t just use credit cards. They can set up new cell phone accounts in your name. They can take out a car loan in your name. They can give your name should they be arrested then, when they don’t show up at court, a warrant is issued in your name!

Identity theft prevention services are inexpensive…generally around $100 a year per individual or $150 for households. If you aren’t a careful type, guarding your personal information, reading your statements carefully and noticing if they don’t arrive, shredding mail with identifying information, then an identity theft prevention service might be right for you.

Andrew

ScamExpert asked:

scamalertusa.blogspot.com As a general rule – ANYTHING involving Western Union/money gram = Scam. All spam emails are scams. my Advice: Don’t deal with anyone from a foreign country or Accept or cash checks from strangers and never use wire/bank transfer services.. you risk losing your $$ and your mind. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! NEVER give out your personal information to strangers online! Always be on guard.

Viola

Jon Arnold asked:




Do you use identity theft prevention measures? If not, you may want to start. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century and more than 10 million people find themselves a victim of it annually. The vast majority of this is simply not being cautious with who they share their personal information with.

If you discover that you have become a victim, you can probably anticipate paying at least $500 in cold hard cash to get the problems corrected. This is real money, and does not even count the 80+ hours of your personal time that you will also need to invest in writing letters, sending faxes, making phone calls, and trying to convince very skeptical debtors that it was not you that racked up all those charges. As these thieves continue to get smarter, you must also keep up on what is going on for the best identity theft prevention measures that you can use.

Everyone has heard that one of the best ways to not become a victim is to shred all mail that comes into your home. This is a great first step. Make sure that you use a shredder that cross-cuts the paper, since this will completely alleviate the ability to put the document back together. One often overlooked item to shred is magazines. Many magazines have preprinted order forms inside that have your name and account number on them, so tear off the address label and the order form before you throw them out.

The government has become aware of the prevalence and severity of this crime and has implemented some legislation aimed at identity theft prevention. The first thing is allowing you to get a free credit report once a year from each of the credit bureaus so that you can see activity on your account and identify activity that should not be there.

The credit reporting companies have also gotten into the act to help you prevent this crime. One way is to send them an “opt-out” which means that you no longer want any banks or financial institutions to mail you offers, even if you qualify. This is a great idea, especially because you may be tempted to sign up for what may appear to be great offers and then find yourself with financial problems due to over-extending yourself.

The credit bureaus also allow you to request a “credit freeze” on your account which will completely freeze your report. What this means is that nobody can run a credit report on you without your express permission. To get permission, it is a somewhat difficult process, and most identity thieves will not bother with this since there are so many targets that are much easier.

If you still feel vulnerable, you might consider buying identity theft protection. Two popular ways are either hiring a company that monitors you credit report and notifies you of any changes or there are companies available that will help you prevent it to begin with. Either type of company can be found online and charge a monthly fee for the service.

The crime of identity theft continues to grow every year, so the ball is in your court to take preventive measures. Be cautious of who you share your personal information with, both online and offline, and implementing these tactics can very well save you the huge time and expense involved with fixing the problem if you become a victim.

Bernard

William Harty asked:




If you’re paranoid by thought of your identity being stolen then you have very good reason to. It is more needed then ever these days to know how to prevent identity theft from the millions of lurking criminals who steal identities every single day. Did you know that 1 in 25 people just in America will have their identity stolen each and every year? If that hasn’t happened to you yet, you better consider yourself very lucky.

Here are 3 helpful tips to use that will prevent identity theft from happening to you.

1 – Never give your private information to people over the phone, especially if you do not currently have identity protection. It is extremely easy for anyone to tap into your phones these days and there countless individuals and businesses that make a living as pretending to be your local bank or energy company.

2 – Always use bank owned ATM machines. Did you know of how many erroneous ATM machines are out there? Their sole purpose is to get your credit card numbers and store them. Be extra cautious of this if you live in the big city especially.

3 – Shred all of your documents, especially the important legal ones. There are numerous cases of criminals easily stealing identities simply because its available in recycling bins. You do not want to toss your private information when anyone can easily pick it up.

I hope this has helped you understand how to prevent identity theft more so you can avoid being the next statistic. If you really want to feel secure it is best to have identity protection as well.

Laurie

NorfolkTV asked:

Meet Norfolk Sheriff’s Office wooden outreach educator, “Grandpa” and Deputy Bob. Get the 411 on ID theft. It can hppen to anyone at anytime if you’re not aware. Grandpa and Deputy Bob show you how to stay safe on this edition of Norfolk Perspectives with Bob Batcher. www.norfolksheriffsoffice.com

Sarah

r3setdotcom asked:

A quick tip in preventing ID theft, we take a look at “Thermal Paper” used for various receipts from gas stations, department stores, to mailing packages etc. It’s also an excuse to just burn something! This is my first non-game or car related vid so I am curious if it will receive in any exposure at all. haha!

Charlene

SBARTSTV asked:

Identity Theft Prevention Tips from TrustedID.com CEO Scott Mitic TrustedID Offers Tips to Help Consumers Protect Themselves from Identity Theft [08-Jan-2009] Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America, affecting approximately 15 million consumers per year, or one new victim every two seconds. Armed with personal information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, names and addresses, identity thieves can drain their victim’s bank accounts and commit fraud in their name. The latest forms of this crime have expanded to medical, child and social networking identity theft. With the ever-increasing amount of consumer data that is available on the Internet, it’s becoming easier for cyber criminals to piece together the elements they need in order to steal someone’s identity. In the current economic downturn, more and more instances of credit fraud and data theft are being reported across the country, and unfortunately no one is immune. Fortunately, there are some simple and immediate steps that consumers can take to proactively protect themselves from identity theft. Available video includes tips and comments by Scott Mitic, consumer advocate and CEO of TrustedID on how people can prevent ID theft and what they should do if they suspect it has already occurred, as well as related pick-up shots showing some common elements that e-criminals use to commit identity theft.

Hector

Peter D. asked:




Identity theft or fraud are often used interchangeably. However, this is kind of a misnomer. There has to be a theft before fraud gets committed. This information is, of course, of little use to the victim.

Gone are the days of rummaging through somebody’s dumpster in order to collect some personal information. Sure, these practices still exist, but you would have to be pretty down and out to employ these kind of methods if you have access to a computer and the internet.

To continue the rummaging through the dumpster analogy, even if you didn’t have access to the internet, a criminal might go after redundant equipment like personal computers or even servers that have been disposed of without wiping the data on the harddisk.

Modern day criminals specializing in identity fraud are much more likely to use the internet by infecting your computer with Trojan horses containing spyware and all sorts of extra goodies.

Phishing is another one of their favorite tactics. Impersonating a well-known company in an email or through a fake website inviting you to enter you personal credentials.

If you are a MySpace, Facebook etc… user, you also want to watch over which personal details you publicize. Cyber-criminals are on the lookout for new opportunities every single day.

Online identity fraud protection starts with installing an antivirus program. This is your very first and basic line of defense. While you are at it, you might also consider installing an antispyware program as a second line of defense. Most antivirus programs have antispyware capabilities, but not as a good as a dedicated antispyware program.

Another, very important thing to mention, is that you should not hook up your computer straight to internet. Have a router sitting in between your computer and the world wide web. Anyone trying to get access to your computer would have to hack the router first in order to start hacking your PC.

Keylogging or taking a copy of your desktop is another favorite pastime of cyber-criminals. Always try to stay one step ahead of them by patching your PC and installing the necessary security software.

Sue