How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
For consumers who believe they are a victim of identity theft, the Federal Trade Comission recommends you take immediate steps to protect yourself such as placing fraud alerts on your credit cards, filing police reports, and filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is also important to resolve specific fraudulent usage with organizations responsible for your bank accounts, credit cards, driver’s license, investment funds, debt collectors and others.
The Federal Trade Commission is one of many organizations that provides valuable facts and information to consumers concerning identity theft, including preventative and resolutions to identity theft concerns.
Almost every worldwide government agency responsible for identity theft issues will tell you the the first step to fighting identity theft is to minimize the risk. To do this they urge consumers to protect their personal information. Start by asking companies how they use your information, and for online transactions, take a moment to review a Website’s privacy policy. In offline tranactions don’t provide credit card numbers, financial account numbers, and personal identifying information over the phone unless you know the communication line is secure. Ideally, you should initiate the conversation. For Internet transactions, be sure the Website offers secure data encryption and other SSL Certificate services to protect your personal information.
Lastly, there are recommended everyday offline practices, such as keeping an eye on postal mail to ensure your bills are arriving when they should be, and taking the time to properly dispose of paper documents that may contain credit card numbers and other identifying personal information. The more private and secure you keep your personal identifying information, the less susceptible to identify theft you are.
Never overlook the possibility of securing your computer from vicious attacks and your personal identity from Identity Theft, be insured against thieves who would steal your identity.
Your Internet Safety Advisors,
Dave Ballard & Bill Wardell
Filed under: Surviving Identity Theft
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