Thursday, 29 December 2011

7 Tips on Forestalling Identity Theft

By Damon Swiss


In the course of the day, you do many activities that put your personal information in danger - from writing a check at the store to charging merchandise in the flesh or over the telephone. You may not think twice about these transactions, but others might.

ID theft - when a perpetrator presumes someone's identity for personal or monetary gain, like stealing a Mastercard to make finance transactions in the victim's name - is the swiftest growing crime in America.

According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, there were about 10 million cases of identity theft in 2004, which cost consumers $5 bn..

The National Citizens ' Crime Prevention Campaign, funded by the National Crime Prevention Council, intends to educate customers about what they can do to prevent I. D. theft. The council offers the following tips.

* Don't give out your personal information unless you initiate the contact or know the person or company with whom you are dealing. Also, never communicate private information, eg a SSID Number or bank account number, in response to an e-mail. Legit companies won't ask you to do this.

* Do not divulge your Mastercard number to an internet seller unless it is encoded and the site is secure. Glance at the first part of the Web address on your browser. It should read "https://."

* Do not write your SSID Number or fone number on checks or Visa card bills.

* Remove all documents with private info from your drive before dropping your PC or sending it in for repair[**].

* Shred discarded documents, including approved Mastercard applications, bank statements, store receipts and utility charges. "Dumpster divers" can get access to your private information if such items are thrown in the rubbish.

* Cancel all mastercards that have not been used in the last six months. Open credit is a prime target for burglars.

* Order your credit score at least biannually and report any mistakes to the credit reporting agency in writing.

If you're a victim of ID theft, contact your local police department as quickly as possible. If your identity was thieved in one jurisdiction but utilized in another, you could have to report the crime in both jurisdictions.

Learn the exact steps I used to improve my credit here.




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