Identity Theft Protection

05/21/2012

Welcome to ScamAnswers.com! My name is Lisa Woodford and I created this site to help my readers protect themselves from scammers, both online and in the real world. Hope you will find these tips helpful.

Identity Theft Tips

Are ID thieves stealing your money? Find out in four easy steps:

1 - Get your Credit Report

2 - Go to the Accounts History section

3 - Look for any accounts that look unfamiliar

4 - If you find a suspicious account, go to Identity Guard and have them lock your credit, so only you can make changes.

Quick Facts

Identity theft is on the rise, affecting almost 10 million victims in 2009 (a 22% increase from 2008)

The mean cost per victim is $500

71% of fraud happens within a week of stealing a victim’s personal data

How to Protect Your Identity

Don't wait until you lose thousands of dollars to scammers! Sign up for a service like Identity Guard, they provide security and a $1,000,000 guarantee.

Do you want to know if your identity is being used by scammers? I ran across this tip just the other day and thought, that I would share. All the information you need can be found in your current credit report. Follow the steps below:

Find Out Quickly if Someone is Using Your ID

1 - You will need to get a current Credit Report. Click here to get one online.

2 - Once you have your credit report find the Account History section

3 - In the Account History section you will see all your Credit Accounts. These are accounts that you opened at some point. Go through the list and look for unfamiliar accounts. If you find accounts you do not know about you will need to get your credit locked. This will prevent new accounts getting opened without your approval.

4 - Go to Identity Guard and have them lock and monitor your credit. When your credit is locked, no changes can be made without your approval. They will actively guard and protect your identity and guarantee their service up to $1,000,000.

Eight Tips to Avoid ID Theft

When it comes to protecting your identity you have to understand, that you cannot be 100% safe, your goal is to make the ID thieves look for an easier target.

1. Anyone can be the victim of identity theft. It's not only the wealthy or people with high credit scores that are targeted. Id thieves are mostly focusing on middle class families because they pay the least attention to day to day finances.

2. Sign up for an identity protection service with Identity Guard. They will give you a peace of mind with active protection and a $1,000,000 guarantee. You can try their service for $1 for 30 days.

3. Keep your Social Security safe. This is the information ID thieves want the most. Don't put your Social Security number on checks or ID cards. Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet. If anyone asks for your Social Security number, give them only the last four digits.

4. Don't use credit cards for daily transactions. Use cash as much as you can.

5. Stick to your banks ATM's. In some cases, stand alone ATM's are simply not secure or ID thieves may rig the machines to keep your account information.

6. Keep an eye on your statements. Checking the balances on your bank accounts and paying the amounts due on your credit accounts is not enough. Go through the statements each month. Keep as many receipts as you can and reconcile them with what's in your statements. Look for wrong amounts, duplicate transactions and transactions in strange places or times. Some ID thieves make a few small transactions to "test" an account for more and bigger frauds later.

7. Never give personal financial information over the telephone to someone who has called you. Insist on getting a return number and calling them back before you give out information.

8. When you're purchasing anything on the Internet, look for security features before you give any personal information. You can recognize a secure page by the prefix "https" in the web address.

Useful web sites mentioned in this article:
Identity Guard
Free Credit Report