06
Aug 2012

How to Tell If Your Identity Is Stolen – 6 Key Clues

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How to Tell If Your Identity Is StolenIf you’re wondering how to tell if your identity is stolen, you aren’t alone. According to Javelin Strategy & Research Inc.’s 2011 Identity Fraud Survey Report, the average time it takes for an individual to discover that their identity has been stolen is 68 days, or just over two months. This is plenty of time for an identity thief to do serious damage to your credit report and move on before he or she risks getting caught.

Identity thieves know this, and also know that once the theft is uncovered consumers typically only use identity theft protection services for one year. As a result, according to Cooper Bachman (pdf), an analyst for ID Analytics, identity thieves tend to use an identity for just two weeks before abandoning it. The next attack won’t come until a year or more later, when any identity theft protection purchased is likely to have lapsed.

So how do you know if someone has stolen your identity? Read on for my best tips for early detection of identity theft.

The 6 Clues That Your Identity May Have Been Compromised

As with any advice regarding your financial well-being, the best thing that you can do to ensure identity theft is deterred is to be vigilant. If you’re asking “How can I tell if my identity has been stolen?” you may already be at risk. Since criminals who steal identities tend to move quickly, it’s wise to act immediately if you see any of these signs that explain how to tell if your identity is stolen.

  • Your child receives credit card applications in the mail when they have no credit. Credit card applications are never sent to individuals without a credit history, so the appearance of this junk mail alerts you that a credit history has been started for your child.
  • You receive new credit cards in the mail that you didn’t sign up for. Most identity thieves are careful to add a new address to your credit history (one they control, of course) before signing up for any new credit, but sometimes the credit card issuer sends the card to your real address. If you receive an actual credit card, not just an offer, and you didn’t ask for it, act fast.
  • You notice payments you did not make on your credit card statements. It sounds counter-intuitive, but sometimes identity thieves will make minimum payments on credit cards in order to hide and extend fraud. Always examine your credit card statements carefully.
  • You’re contacted by collection agencies, especially for unfamiliar or even off the wall purchases. If you are not late on any payments but are receiving collection calls or letters, there is a problem. Mail orders are an easy, and therefore popular, target for these lapsed payments; my neighbor was a victim involving an alleged order of five NASCAR watches. He had to ask me what NASCAR was – and how to fix the problem!
  • There are discrepancies in your credit reports. One of the areas on a credit report that is frequently overlooked is the address history. Your address history is just as important as your credit information, since thieves will try to control your mail to hide their crime.
  • You stop receiving anticipated bills. If you stop receiving bills that you should be getting every month, especially your credit cards, contact your credit card companies to find out why without delay. This could be a sign your address has been changed on your credit report.

So how do you know if your identity has been stolen? If you see any of these signs, your identity may have been stolen already, so don’t put off contacting your financial institutions right away.

If you haven’t seen these signs but you’re still worried that you might be at risk, you can visit MyIdScore, a free service run by ID Analytics, Inc. that assesses your risk of identity theft so you can take thorough preventative measures. You can also sign up for the LifeLock Ultimate Service, which will send you up to date e-mails on any activity indicating that identity thieves are tampering with your identity. Read StumbleForward’s review on Lifelock Ultimate, and remember that vigilance is your best protection against identity theft.

Categories: Identity Theft Tags: , , , , , , ,
01
Aug 2012

Identity Theft And Social Media – How To Avoid It From Happening To You

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social media and identity theftMost of us take steps to protect our identity in the physical world. We shred our mail, keep our Social Security cards in a safe place, and treat unsolicited phone calls as suspicious until proven otherwise. However, this caution isn’t as widespread in our social media lives as it should be, which is why identity theft and social media are becoming highly correlated.

You might think that because your social network profiles are private you have protected yourself against social identity theft. Yet privacy policies change from site to site, and all social networking sites make money from sharing your personal information to advertisers and others.

It might seem harsh but with social networking, even your friends could be opening the door to identity theft. If you’ve ever had a picture posted of you when you weren’t expecting it, you know how easy it is to be caught off guard. I’ve definitely been there, and I’ve also had friends post things about me I don’t want everyone to know, like the friend who posted how jealous she was of my recent salary increase. That’s a big flag for identity thieves, and she has a public profile.

Naturally, I asked my friend to take that post down, but it shows how easy it is for others to invite identity theft on your behalf. Social media puts the burden on you to safeguard how your information is being shared.

Social Networking Identity Theft Statistics

Trends in identity theft fueled through information gleaned on social media sites clearly show that there is a lack of awareness by users about how the information they are sharing is being used. Consider these social networking identity theft statistics:

  • A study by Javelin Strategy & Research, Inc. found that of those with public social media profiles, 45% shared the full month, day, and year of their birthday; 63% shared the name of their high school; and 12% shared the name of their pet. These are all common security questions at financial institutions.
  • A recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal found that many of the apps, games, and quizzes on social media access the user’s friends’ information based on the user’s permission, no go-ahead required by those friends whose information is now compromised.
  • What’s even more frightening is that researchers at Carnegie Mellon University were able to correctly guess the social security number for 44% of individuals born after 1988 using a relatively simple algorithm and publicly available information on the first try.

Common Mistakes Fuel Social Media’s Use in Identity Theft

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), user misunderstanding about which information is public might be partly to blame for the rise in identity theft due to social networking; 63% of respondents in a survey about Facebook thought that their information was only visible to friends if their profile was set to the default ‘private’ setting. In fact, the default private setting on Facebook allows anyone to review a user’s full name, hometown, current residence, employer, and favorite activities.

Users also don’t always understand what a threat a stolen password can be. Just this summer, username and password information from Formspring, LinkedIn, and Yahoo for millions of users has been hacked and posted online. With the personal information saved to any of these sites, identity thieves can easily gain access to users’ financial lives.

Another mistake users make is assuming links on social media are safe. One scam emerging this summer involves a social media message (video) that indicates that the Obama administration will pay the users’ utility bills if they provide their Social Security number in return for a special account and routing number to access the offer. Naturally the account information is bogus, but now the users’ SSN is compromised.

How You Can Protect Yourself

The best way to handle identity theft and social media is to treat it just as you do identity theft in the physical world, with caution and common sense. Just like you wouldn’t leave your PIN number on a sticky note on your dashboard, you shouldn’t let your browser (which is easy to hack) save your passwords. Here are a few more tips to protect your social media presence from identity thieves.

  • Watch what’s public. Take the time to learn each of your social networking sites’ privacy policies and dump those that will not let you keep all of your information private or restricted to friends only.
  • Be careful who you friend. Considering the deeply personal information that is shared on social media, think twice about friending the person you met in a bar or a former classmate you didn’t really speak with anyway. They, or their friends, could be after your information, or an outright imposter.
  • Limit geotagging. Geotagging is when a GPS-enabled device shares the location of a photo taken of you, basically telling identity thieves where you like to go and when you are not close to home. With this knowledge thieves can guess passwords and security questions, or break into your home to gain even more information about you.

Social media is a fun tool for most of us, and can actually be very useful in keeping us connected to friends and acquaintances. Make sure that you’re guarding your social identity so that it’s limited to people you know and trust, and it will remain a fun tool instead of an invitation to identity theft.

If you would like to take more proactive steps to protect your identity check out my review on the Lifelock Ultimate program were you can learn about a program that will help you keep a watch out for your identity.

 

Categories: How To Guides, Identity Theft Tags: , , , , , ,
22
Sep 2008

Are YOU The Next Victim Of An Identity Theft

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Has your identity been stolen?

Are you the recent victim of an identity theft?  If you are or you aren’t you will want to read this article, it may save you from a terrible credit disaster.

In 2006, 15 million people had there identity stolen.  That’s 28 people every minute and about one ever 2 seconds.  What’s even worse 91% of those that have been vitamized do not see an end to the thefts. What is most surprising is that around 50% of Americans say they don’t know how to protect themselves if they did get there identity stolen.  

This is a big problem.

You may be saying it’ll never happen to me.  Well here is a good story to illustrate how quick this can happen to you.  A friend of mine was in Walmart one day just picking up some essentials for around the house they needed.  Well as she went to check out supposedly a man was able to memorize the numbers off of there card as they pulled it out to pay.  Without them even realizing it they left Walmart without knowing what had happened.

A half hour later as they were on there way home they received a phone call.  It was there credit card company.  There credit card company asked if they had made any recent purchases at Walmart.  They both agreed.  The company then ask if they made in Las Vegas or Norway. 

Of course they didn’t, but look how long it took them to use there identity.  Within one half hour there card had been reportedly used in Las Vegas and Norway along with a few thousand dollars racked up on it. 

It can happen that fast.

How can you prevent identity theft?

Your identity is a precious thing.  If lost it could do some damaging things like draining the money from your bank or brokerage accounts, charging up your credit cards, or worse destroying your credit. 

So you might be wondering what can you do to solve this issue.  Well if you have been a identity theft victim you may have heard what is called a credit freeze.  A credit freeze will lock all of your credit and prevent anyone from destroying it or creating more credit behind your back.  If you are constantly worried about people who want to steal your credit freezing it can be a simple solution.

So you may be wondering if you could unfreeze your credit after it has been frozen.  The answer is yes.  This is what is called a credit thaw.  In fact this in some states you can do this right over the Internet which may take around 15 minutes to freeze or thaw. 

Although it don’t take long to do there is a fee every time you freeze or thaw your credit.  The fees are different in every state for example in Ohio it cost $5 per freeze per credit bureau which would be $15 and it would be $15 to thaw your credit for all three bureaus. The freeze will stay in effect until you decide to change it.

However if you are an identity theft victim the fee is waved and the fee to obtain a copy of your second credit report will be free as well.  However you must remember to apply for credit or a loan you must thaw your credit.

If you would like to learn more about your states freeze and thaw laws and what it would cost you to freeze or thaw your credit check out this website.

Lastly if you have your credit frozen and you would like to access your credit report this will still be avalible to you if you wish.  Just because it is frozen doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to access this.

Contact information

If you would like to contact any of the 3 bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) by phone to freeze you credit file you can do so at the numbers below. 

Finally, have you frozen your credit or don’t you worry about it so much?  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Categories: Scams Tags: , , , , ,