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If it touched the family of Ben Bernanke, one of the most powerful men in the USA, you are kidding yourself if you think you are immune. identity theft is the the fastest-growing crime of our times, and it is best to be prepared for it because, unfortunately, if you have anything to lose, there is a a better chance than you might think that you will become a victim at some point.

The first line of defense is knowledge. For this reason, not using some sort of identity or credit monitoring system is an open invitation to having your life turned upside down by compromised personal information. The longer someone runs around using your identity undetected, the more damage they will do and the bigger the headache for you.

If you count yourself among the wise folks using such a service, you will quickly learn that your identity has been used by someone else in the event that happens. Fixing the problem can be achieved in three steps.

First, you must file a fraud report with all three major credit bureaus. Some of the identity theft protection products mentioned above will help you do that. This will not undo damage that has already been done, but it will tell creditors and financial institutions to be extra careful when opening new accounts in your name.

Here are the numbers to call:

TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

Calling any one of the three should be sufficient, but call all three just to be sure.

Second, close all compromised or suspicious accounts. Do not mess around with this. Some lenders will do everything to keep you as a “customer,” in which case you must insist forcefully that you have or may have been a victim of identity theft. They will comply. To be extra safe, it might be a good idea even to close accounts that do not show suspicious activity and re-open them. If the accounts are in good standing, the businesses will be more than happy to do this for you.

Third, report the suspicious activity to law enforcement. If you want to catch the people who did it and get some justice, this is obviously important. Filing reports will also help your case in the resolution phase when you are trying to repair your credit report and remove fraudulent charges.

Remember that the best defense is a good offense! You can protect your identity using a variety of tools. Use them. Half of identity theft victims do not find out about the crime until months or years after the fact. Do not be one of them.

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I remember it better than I remember what I ate for breakfast this morning. It was a spring day, and my mother was walking me to my first day of kindergartin, which was just a short distance from our house. In those days, the way we lived was much different from now, and I would walk myself to preschool after mom showed me the way.

How is this related to ID theft protection?

For some reason this image is branded into my mind like a high-definition video clip: Mom and I are standing on the corner. She is holding my little hand. I feel safe and happy about my first day of school which my parents have made me feel is the greatest thing in the world (and it is, when you think about it). Mom points out the stop sign and the cars. She says, “Remember, Charlie, always look both ways and keep looking even as you cross the street.”

To this day, I still turn my head back and forth as I cross the street. Always look both ways and keep looking both ways. It is my credo, and it has served me well.

Mom gave me all kinds of smart advice: Brush your teeth after every meal. Never talk to Stranger Danger. Be courteous and respectful. Share with others. Do your homework.

I guess your mom probably did the same. What would your mother have to say about the problem of identity theft? If she were informed about it, she would tell you to look both ways and keep looking both ways. She would tell you that, unfortunately, nasty people in our world will try to harm you.

How do you “look both ways” when it comes to identity theft? There is only one solution: monitor your identity. You can do this the hard way, by looking yourself up in various databases every day, paying attention to your credit reports, and taking quick action when something seems out of whack. This could consume a good deal of your time. Luckily, you could also do it the easy way by deploying one of the great identity theft protection tools that are available.

Paying attention to your credit scores is also a very good idea.

As my mother always advised me to stay busy and work efficiently, I am pretty sure that she would advise doing things the easy way and informed about my reputation. Your mother would say something similar, I’m guessing.

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Ten million new victims each year, yet this crime is not on most people’s radar. It is as close to perfect as crime can get.

Allow me to clear up a few common misconceptions about identity theft.

Misconception: Identity theft on affects a victim’s financial situation.

Truth: While the financial damage from identity theft is enormous, this type of event would more accurately be branded identity fraud. Identity theft causes many other types of criminal activity: terrorism, blackmail, pedophilia and tax evasion to name but a few.

Misconception: Identity theft is when someone steals your personal information and borrows money in your name.

Truth: Again, this is identity fraud which is just one kind of identity theft. Identity theft is hard to pin down; it takes many shapes. Sometimes a stolen identity does not lead to other crimes, and the victims never know. ONe example would be the many database break-ins that expose the information of tens of thousands of people. Most of them are never actually financially harmed. Sometimes a criminal will clone the victim’s identity just to hide from authorities. This pattern is common among pedophiles, ex-convicts, and deadbeat dads. Sometimes a stolen identity is used to get medical services (leading to confusion about medical records, a dangerous situation). In some cases, only a portion of the identity is stolen (common among illegal immigrants using Jane Doe’s SSN under their own name.)

Misconception: ID theft can’t damage my life because I have nothing left to lose.

Truth: This may make you more vulnerable. The unemployed have recently become a favorite target of identity thieves. Why? Because those with nothing to lose are desperate and readily give up information. They will probably will not invest a few cents a day in an identity monitoring service to protect themselves. They are easy prey.

Misconception: If I do become a victim, laws protect me completely from financial loss.

Truth: It is a fact that legislation places the onus on financial institutions when money is directly stolen. It is also true that the burden of many moons to make things right. How much is your time worth? Plus, as mentioned, financial losses are only a small part of the total picture.

The message that needs to be communicated is that 10 million Americans will become victims every year. If you have read my other articles on this subject, you should already have known that fact.

I hope this cleared up some of your misconceptions about this subject. If you do “get it” now, please take action to protect your family. There is no time like right now to get your credit ratings.

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“Penny wise and pound foolish” is a perfect description those individuals who do not bother to monitor credit reports, by which I mean their own credit ratings, of course, since other people most assuredly will take a look at them. An investment of a few minutes and a few cents a day is all it takes to remain informed of one of the most important measurements of a person’s worth: Their credit reports.

How easily people spend money and how averse they can be to investing it. There are people who don’t think twice about wasting a few dollars every day on a cookie that will only make them fat but will never consider dropping a few dimes every day to protect their professional reputations.

The quality of your work and your reliability represent only a fraction of your identity in the world these days. Your credit scores are another part. Anyone with anything to lose should absolutely use a credit monitoring service. It is important to find out about mistakes quickly. Or maybe they don’t know just how common these mistakes are.

good reasons to monitor your credit scores:

1) Errors happen often. Whether incurred by data entry boo-boo or fraud, recent studies have shown that one out of four credit reports are inaccurate. These mistakes seldom work in favor of your scores. A few points off your credit score can cause headaches. The sooner a mistake is noticed, the more easily it will be rectified.

2) Identity theft is usually not caught until it shows up on a credit report. With ten million new victims every year, this is a genuine possibility. Are you sure someone is not out there pretending to be you? The sooner you spot blips in your report, the better your chances of catching an identity thief.

3) A mistake in your credit report can cost you a lot of money. If you have any kind of insurance, the premiums are partially calculated based on your credit scores. Better make sure the information collected by the credit bureaus is correct or it could cost you many thousands of dollars over a period of years.

4) An error in your report can cause damage to your career. About 40 percent of employers check credit as part of the hiring process. Most potential business partners will do the same.

5) Monitoring your reports costs next to nothing. For something like 30 cents a day, you can stay on top of this, nip any potential problems in the bud and give yourself peace of mind.

But, hey, maybe you’d rather spend that change on one tenth of a cookie or something.

More identity theft information.

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By now, you need to be aware that identity theft is an actual danger to just about everyone. Even though specific features or profiles could ascertain who is mainly at risk, it is better to be on the prudent side and do everything you can to shield your identity from an identity thief.

Identity thieves want certain personal information from you to be able to carry out identity theft. What a thief is after is your pii, that stands for personally identifiable information or personally identifying information. This info may be something that can be utilized to find and identify a person with the purpose of taking their identity to commit crimes. Information such as your name, address, place and date of birth, SSN, credit and bank numbers, and mother’s maiden name are all considered as pii.

With sufficient data, an identity thief can carry out various forms of crime or fraud. They could make use of your credit cards to make purchases, empty your bank account, open additional card and bank accounts, utilize your medical insurance, lease property, as well as commit crime with your name.

Protecting your identity from identity thieves at the end of the day depends on you. Identity Theft Protection actions can be utilized to help you reduce considerably the potential for becoming a target of identity theft, it depends on how prudent you are in handling all your important information.

Listed here are various things you could do to protect yourself from identity thieves.

1) Store a photocopy of your credit cards, bank account numbers, driver’s license, social security card, and further important info in a safe place. In short, create a back-up documentation of all your individual data and personal numbers; do not forget to create a listing of all of the phone numbers which are required to cancel your credit cards or checks.

2) Dispose of your credit card and bank statements properly; you should not toss your receipts in the garbage or they might be taken by thieves. Shred your statements, bills and receipts except do not use the older type of shredder as thieves might paste all of the shredded bits together. Instead, either burn them or purchase a cross-cut shredder that shreds the paper horizontally and vertically into smaller portions.

3) When applying for any credit card or you could be waiting for a new card but it doesn’t turn up without delay, contact your credit institution and tell them of this problem. By doing this, it is possible to prevent any fraudulent activity that may occur.

4) Create a good mixture of numbers to your PIN or passwords. Make sure that you select hard to deduce passwords; date of birth, mother’s maiden name, dog’s name, and the like. should not be used for your PIN or passwords.

5) Don’t offer your individual information to anybody who sends you an e-mail or even a snail mail, and on no account provide private details over the telephone. In case you get an e-mail which is supposedly from your financial institute and you are requested to click a link inside the e-mail, you should not click any link as it could be a phishing scam. At all times type in the web address yourself in the browser if you utilize on-line banking services.

6) Secure the region adjoining the ATM before using it by ensuring no one is around you watching you while making a withdrawal. In addition, be sure that there is no unusual apparatus illegally attached in the ATM. There are news about electronic devices illegally attached to the card slot of the ATM which can record your PIN when you type it in.

7) Check your bank and credit cards statements every month. All entries within the statements must be made under your consent. When there are charges included in the bill which you do not know about, right away report it to your financial institution and request an investigation. It is recommended to change to on-line banking as you can check your statements at whatever time you prefer and you should cancel your paper statements.

To finish yet most importantly, acquire a copy of your credit reports from the three credit reporting agencies. You are entitled to a free report from each annually therefore use this. Ask for one every 3 or 4 months from each to be able to spot any suspicious activity or information that could be inaccurate.

These are a few of the things which you can perform to shield yourself from identity theft. You may additionally make use of Identity Theft Protection Services to ensure your protection. These services scrutinize all your personal identifying information each minute of every day so that you can stop identity theft before it takes place.

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