The incidence of identity theftis growing at an alarming rate. According to a report issued by the
Federal Trade Commission in November 2007, "approximately 8.3 million
U.S. adults discovered that they were victims of some form of ID theft
in 2005." During that calendar year (the latest for which data is
available), it's estimated that 3.2 million Americans had problems with
an existing creditcard, 3.3 million Americans had problems with another type of account,
such as a checking account, and 1.8 million Americans had personal
information, such as their social security numbers, stolen and used to open new accounts.
These numbers are staggering, as are the amounts of money that the
thieves were able to obtain using stolen identities. According to the
FTC report, some of the criminals who opened new accounts were able to
get $30,000 or more worth of goods and services. This led some victims
to incur expenses of over $5,000 and spend over 130 hours of time
trying to stop the identity theft and resolve problems relating to
their identities being stolen.
Unpleasant Surprises
There's little doubt that few people expect to be victimized by
identity theft. Perhaps that's why, in the FTC survey, only a quarter
of the respondents discovered they were victims of identity theft
through monitoring their accounts, while another 11 percent found out
through a credit monitoring and protection service. The majority had
the unpleasant experience of being called by a debt collector,
receiving a bill or notification from a company, or discovering the
problem during the course of applying for a job, credit, or benefits.
How to Prevent Identity Theft
The easiest way to stop identity theft is through prevention.
Essentially, you have to provide a "lifelock" for your identity. The
best way to do that is to first ask each of the three major credit
bureaus to set fraud alerts on your information. When you do this, you
will be contacted if you or someone else tries to open an account,
raise a credit limit, and so forth. You have the opportunity to verify
that you do, indeed, want that action to be taken. The fraud alert
lasts for 90 days, so you need to make the request every three months.
Next, you should ask that you no longer receive pre-approved credit cardoffers, and have your name removed from marketing lists. Then, you
should order and check your credit reports (which you can obtain once a
year for free) to ensure that your identity hasn't already been
hijacked. Finally, if you lose your wallet or misplace credit cards,
your checkbook, or other items related to identity theft, you should
immediately report it to the relevant financial institutions.
Vigilance is Key
The key to successfully preventing identity theft is vigilance. It
doesn't do any good, for example, to set fraud alerts with the credit
bureaus once; you must conscientiously repeat it every 90 days. If you
don't, your safety net goes out the window. There are services
available that will regularly set fraud alerts, remove your name from
junk mail lists and resubmit your name as the requests expire, and
order your free credit reports for you. The best services also provide
specialists who will take care of problems associated with losing your
wallet or having it stolen. If you decide to go with this hassle-free
method to stop identity theft before it happens, make sure to sign up
with a company that will stand beside you in the event your identity is
stolen. This means providing you with investigators, lawyers,
accountants, and so forth, and refund any out-of-pocket expenses you
incur as a result of the identity theft. If the service is good, it's a
small price to pay to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing
that your identity is secure.
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How to Stop Identity Theft: An Essential GuideThe incidence of identity theftis growing at an alarming rate. According to a report issued by the
Federal Trade Commission in November 2007, "approximately 8.3 million
U.S. adults discovered that they were victims of some form of ID theft
in 2005." D...
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