Here are nine of the most popular ways for thieves to steal your identity. Some of these are personally preventable and others are basically out of your control:
1. Stolen Company Data. Your personal information is stored on computers at stores where you shop, companies you do business with, and more. Company computer are hacked into and the personal information on their clients and customers is stolen.
2. Social Engineering. Identity thieves will invent and create anything to fool you into giving your identity out. It’s called social engineering because the thief uses common social situations to get the information they want. Like a seemingly innocent phone call supposedly from your credit card company asking for your personal information.
3. Account Hijacking. Once a thief has your personal information they can take over your personal accounts. You might not know about their activity for months. Continue reading →
The best protection against identity theft, without doubt, is identity theft prevention. Clearly – notwithstanding some recent legislation – identity theft is the crime that’s probably most likely to happen to you. It’s simply too easy for crooks to get hold of credit card numbers and social security numbers these days. Here is a brief overview of how identity theft happens, what to do if it happens to you, and a few important self-protection measures.
Identity Theft Defined
Identity theft doesn’t usually mean somebody steals your identity and then lives his/her life impersonating you and running up bills in your name. It could mean that, but that is in extreme cases. Most of the time, it refers to someone who runs up bills using your credit card or credit rating. There have even been cases of identity thieves taking out house mortgages under somebody else’s name, and then flipping (re-selling) the house.
Two Types of Identity Thieves
There are two main types of identity thieves, namely identity theft rings and individual identity thieves. Continue reading →
