Saurabh K Jain asked:




Life after bankruptcy has never been easy. Besides other unpleasant outcomes, these days, a new kind of threat called the “identity theft” may also target you after you have been declared as bankrupt. Different types of credit offers may be solicited to you and you may also get engaged in different credit-related transactions, such as applying for new credits or purchasing new assets on installment. Such cases are a strong indication that you are being targeted for identity theft.

What Exactly Is This Scam

Identity theft is a new kind of consumer fraud, as per which a third party steals your identity in order to misuse the same illegally. Most of the time, they target people who have been declared as bankrupt by the bankruptcy court. The most common way to steal a person’s identity is by collecting vital personal information about the target, such as his or her bank account numbers, credit card details, date of birth, and social security number. After gathering all the information, the thieves may use your identity for various purposes, such as obtaining credit cards, opening bank accounts, obtaining state identification cards, and even driver’s licenses – all in your name, but only to fulfill their own malicious objectives. Such thieves have also been found to fraudulently purchase houses and cars. What is more, they can even get married on your name. Therefore, if you have not been very careful, identity theft can make your life after bankruptcy extremely difficult.

You Are The Soft Target

If you are one of those who filed a petition for bankruptcy and have also been granted the same, you can be a soft target for these identity thieves. Not that stealing your personal information is easy, well that is in fact easier than it would have been before being declared bankrupt, but the main reason why they target people like you is that you probably do not have enough resources to fight them back. They try to take advantage of your poorly situation. The only way to prevent such nasty things to happen is to be extra careful. Prevention is the key here. Always remember that once it happens, it will take several years to fix.

What The Victims Can Do?

There is nothing in the bankruptcy laws that could help you in this regard. However, there are still several steps that you can take in order to protect you.

You can file a report of the crime to the police. Do not forget to keep a copy for yourself. You may need it at a later stage. This report will help you prove to the creditors that it was not actually you.

It is also a good idea to file a complaint with the FTC. FTC stands for the Federal Trade Commission, which is a governmental agency, especially formed to investigate identity theft cases.

Life after bankruptcy can be easier if you keep your eyes open and take the right step at the right time.

Tony

Jahanzaib Hassan asked:




Identity theft is the growing national epidemic. There are literally hundreds of ways you can loose your all important credit ratings through identity theft, as it happens with a hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. There are more numbers of identity theft cases reported than there are robberies filed. Preventing identity theft is a simple matter of playing it safe. Identity theft protection relies on the old adverb better safe than sorry. Preventing identity theft is the key to identity theft protection. Here are certain guidelines for preventing identity theft and the 3 identity theft protection laws:

Identity theft protection Law # 1:

1. Protect your Social Security number and never say it aloud in a public place.

2. Never give out your SSN, credit or debit card number or other personal information over the phone, by mail, or on the Internet.

3. Never carry any card in your wallet that contains the Social Security number (SSN), unless required.

4. Always, take credit card receipts with you. Never toss them in a public trash container.

5. If the state of your residence uses the SSN as the driver’s license number, it is strongly recommended that you contact your Department of Motor Vehicles and request a different number.

6. Never permit your SSN or driver’s license number credit card number to be written onto your checks.

7. Do not have your SSN or driver’s license number printed on your checks.

8. Ask your financial institutions to add extra identity theft protection to your account.

9. Shield your hand when using a bank ATM machine.

10. Always use a gel pen for issuing checks.

11. Never have new checks mailed to you.

12. Never leave envelopes containing your checks anywhere, when you pay bills.

13. When creating passwords and PINs, do not use any characters that relate to personnel information.

14. Never record anything in your wallet. Memorize all your passwords.

15. Carry minimum number of credit cards, debit cards and avoid carrying your birth certificate, Social Security card or passport in your wallet except when needed.
Identity theft protection Law # 2:

16. Be proactive and shield all your data in a safe place. Maintain a list and photocopies of all your credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and investments and telephone numbers of the customer services and fraud departments, in a locking cabinet or safe along with all your personal information and canceled checks.

17. Use credit cards instead of debit cards to shop online and automate as much bill-paying as possible from your checking account.

18. It is important that you install a locked mailbox at your residence for enhanced identity theft protection.

Identity theft protection Law # 3:

19. Review all your financial data as often as possible. Federal law entitles you the right to one free credit report each year from the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion; use it. If you are a victim of identity theft, your credit report will indicate that.

20. Look at your Social Security Personal Wages and Benefits, Approximate Statement each year to check for deception.

21. Review credit card, bank and phone statements, including cellular phone bills every month.

22. Maintain services of Identity Theft Protection and Recovery Company. Better safe than sorry.

23. Identity theft protection includes protecting your PC from hackers. Load some sort of blocking software on your home systems for preventing hackers to obtain personal confidential and financial data from your hard drive.

24. Update your anti-virus product, everyday.

25. Always protect your files through passwords that contain sensitive personal data.

26. If doing online transactions for shopping, only trust on companies that provide transaction security protection.

27. Never just delete files that contain personnel information, make sure to remove this data by using a strong “wipe” utility program.

28. Never respond to spam email messages.

With the emergence of new technologies, new markets and new jobs; thieves have found a new commodity to steal. Your identity is worth a lot of credit. Victims of identity theft have found it the hard way. Identity theft protection is the only means to be safe from the pain and anguish of having loans accredited to your name. Preventing identity theft requires a proactive approach. Better safe than sorry.

Darren

wellsen38 asked:

www.christessitore.com Prepaidl legal services and identity theft protection. Affordabale attorney fees with prepaid legal services a legitimate home based business. Prepaid legal membership.

Kim

Joseph Troyer asked:




When a person’s financial or personal information is stolen by someone else and used illegally, it is called identity theft. Usually, a person’s identity is stolen so someone else can obtain bank accounts and credit cards in their name. Being the victim of this type of fraud often can set you back a few years financially and is difficult to recover completely from. With some helpful information and work, you can adequately protect yourself with some identity theft prevention measures.

There are many precautions that you can take to assure your assets are fully protected. Surprisingly, perpetrators need only a few personal details in order to steal identities so it’s important that you adequately protect yourself. Never throw important mail or documents away until all of your financial and personal information is blacked out. Consider using paper shredders to make it easier on yourself.

Even other, more unassuming, documents can be used by thieves to steal identities. Things like offers from credit cards that are received through the mail should be blacked out or shredded before being tossed out. Often, thieves look through garbage in search of these documents and use them to get credit cards in other people’s names. If you are worried about being exploited this way, place a fraud alert on your credit. All credit card applications have to be personally confirmed by you, either in person or by phone.

Thieves are fairly adept at obtaining info that has been comprised as well. You should consider, because of this, keeping all of your to-be discarded mail in the home until it’s time for trash day as opposed to just throwing it all out right away. Shredding or blacking them all out should still be done.

You should be careful with ATM pin numbers as well. Don’t pick obvious numbers like your anniversary or birthday and change them at least every six months. Refrain from writing it down or keeping it in your wallet or purse to prevent someone from learning it. Memorize the number instead.

Make sure to check the mail each day early and to promptly bring it all in. Be weary if you stop receiving bills and bank statements suddenly. Most crooks forge signatures at their post office to get another person’s mail forwarded to alternative addresses. Credit can then be obtained using that person’s information.

Carefully, take the time each month to look over your bank statements. You should keep an eye out for charges or withdrawals that weren’t made by you. These and other inconsistencies should be reported by you immediately to your bank. Lost credit or debit cards will need to be reported right away to your bank as well, even if they have been missing for only a few hours.

Cody

CentralTexasBBB asked:

BBB talks to KXAN about keeping personal information and sensitive documents safe by shredding and disposing of them properly. KXAN-TV (10/20/10)

Carolyn

Tim Gorman asked:




Everyday more and more consumers are falling victim to identity theft. In fact, the mere act of identity theft is growing at an alarming rate as more and more people find themselves victim of this insidious crime. Millions of dollars continues to be lost by consumers who are unaware that their personal and financial information has fallen into the wrong person’s hands. Fortunately there are some simple steps that you can take in order to help prevent identity theft from taking place. This article covers 6 tips on preventing identity theft.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #1 – Never, I repeat never give your social security number to anyone unless it is an absolute emergency or is truly required to perform some function. Instead only be willing to use the last four digits of your social security number as a means of verifying who you are. Many companies have now adapted this method as one means of verifying your identity.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #2 – Always make sure to check your end of month bills, especially your credit card bills in order to spot any charges that may not have been placed by yourself. Additionally make sure your bills actually arrive since many identity theft thieves are known to steal your mail in order to gain access to your personal information.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #3 – Routinely order your credit report from one or all of the big three credit reporting agencies in order to check it for any errors or accounts that may have been opened or originated due to identity theft fraud. If you find a discrepancy on your credit report notify the respective credit bureau immediately in order to fix the problem and ensure that it was not a result of someone attempting to hijack your identity.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #4 – Whenever you are asked to choose a password for any type of account or login make sure and take the extra step to formulate a password that will be difficult for an identity theft specialist to solve. Always avoid using easy to crack passwords that use your birthday or your spouse’s birthday as the password. These types of passwords are common and make easy target for thieves after your identity.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #5 – Try to avoid giving out any of your personal information over the phone, in person or online if at all possible. One of the simplest ways to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft is to keep your private information private. Failure to do so can make you an easier target for someone to hijack your identity.

Identity Theft Prevention Tip #6 – Always make sure to shred any type of financial documents or paperwork that contains any of your personal information on it before throwing it away. This simple act, which can be done rather quickly and easily, will help to thwart any type of attempt on your identity by an identity theft thief. Don’t underestimate the power of safeguarding your personal information. It is your number one defense against preventing identity theft from happening to your or your loved ones.

Identity theft is a terrible crime and major source of frustration for anyone to have to go through. Utilize these 6 tips on preventing identity theft to safeguard your own personal information. These simple but effective tips will help keep your information where it belongs, in the privacy of your own safe keeping.

Jesus

lexisnexisnetwork asked:

Learn how to reduce compliance risk and prevent losses due to identity theft. Identifying and acting on instances of identity theft is no longer “just another CIP policy” – it’s the law. With modifications to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act effective November 1, 2008, the Identity Theft Red Flags Rule requires financial institutions and other credit-granting entities to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program to help detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft in connection with the opening of certain covered accounts or certain existing accounts.

Jill

phonedude1 asked:

Get the best Identity Theft Fraud Protection For $9.99/month. Get Fraud alerts as well. Id Theft is on the rise.

Paul

Tyler Previd asked:




The short and simple answer is yes. Definitely. The longer answer can be as long as you want it to be!

I could tell you horror stories that would make you cringe about people that have gotten their identity stolen by dirty criminals who buy and sell people’s good names on the internet and off. It’s a terrible thing but it happens every day. Imagine having a company that monitors every thing that goes on regarding your name.

For example, if somebody tries to open a new credit card under your name, you’d get a phone call. Once you confirm that it’s not you, the criminal is denied! Wouldn’t that feel good knowing that you won the battle against a criminal who was about to steal your identity? You’d be surprised how often your mail gets hijacked or your information gets searched for on the black market.

There are so many hackers out there that can put programs on your computer that harvest everything that you type on your keyboard. Then, they have user names, passwords and even credit card numbers that you typed yourself! If you didn’t type in any credit card numbers, they can still access them by using your passwords to log into your bank account online and/or any other subscription or pay site that you are a member or customer of.

Still wondering “Should I Buy an Identity Theft Prevention Plan?” I feel good knowing that I can comfortably go about exposing my information. I feel so protected that I wouldn’t even mind showing my social security number to anyone that wanted it! The company that protects my identity also guarantees that I won’t lose any money…even if my identity does somehow get stolen! Up to $1,000,000 to be exact. Best of all, it only costs me $10 a month.

I could go on forever about why you should buy an identity theft prevention plan but you probably see the point by now. Good luck…and keep your good name!

Oscar

Jason Gluckman asked:




Identity theft is a malicious action that involves the taking of a victim’s identity (name, birth date, and address, for example) and using this personal information in order to obtain money from the victim’s bank account, to apply for loans, and even to establish accounts with various companies. While no one can totally prevent this activity from occurring, there are some positive steps to take to decrease the risk of becoming a victim.

At least once a year, you should check your credit reports from credit reporting agencies. This way, you will be able to determine unauthorized accounts and fraudulent activities that will surely arouse your suspicion.

Guard your social security number since identity thieves can easily access this. If you will not be using it for any transaction for the day, better leave your Social Security card in a safe place at home.

Make sure that when you give out your personal information orally, strangers are not within your distance because they may try to eavesdrop and overhear the information you give. And if your conversation is by phone, be suspicious of telephone solicitors. You should never provide the person you are talking to any information not unless you are the one who initiated the call.

Use a crosscut paper shredder to destroy papers with confidential information. This is better than throwing them away in a wastebasket, as anyone can search through the discarded papers and get the information written on them.

And lastly, since the Internet is the easiest place for identity thieves to gain access to your personal information, see to it that you delete any suspicious email requests without replying to them. Never a use password that contains any of your personal information like your birthday or your email address.

These steps are important in order to decrease people’s risk factors of being identity theft victims. Simply follow all these precautions, and be on the look out at all times.

Steve