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Just
about everybody has heard of
identity theft,
but most people do not believe it could ever
happen to them. The fact is, identity theft is
more common than most believe. It's not hard for
identity thieves to obtain all of the information
they need in order to assume another person's
identity, but it can be made a whole lot harder
for them if people remain smart and protect
themselves as completely as possible.
When
it Happens…
If a person becomes a victim of identity theft, it
can take a long time - possibly years - to recover
from it. It can also cost the victim thousands of
dollars as well as ruin their
credit score.
Usually, it's nearly impossible to recover from
identity theft in a quick manner because many
things have to be resolved before forgiveness will
be given by the three major credit reporting
companies in the United States.
If
identity theft does happen, the person who is the
victim will probably experience problems obtaining
any sort of financing (mortgage, car loan, student
loan,
credit cards,
etc…). And, the worst thing that can happen is
that the victim of identity theft can even get
arrested for crimes he or she did not commit.
All
of the results of being a victim of identity theft
are not fair, and are very difficult to resolve.
Being a victim can be a real headache and can
basically interrupt or stall an innocent person's
life for several years. So, the best possible
thing is to do is to try and do anything and
everything to prevent becoming a victim in the
first place.
Protect Personal Information
The easiest way for identity thieves can assume
another person's identity is to obtain personal
information from a potential victim and use that
information to fill out loan or
credit card
applications.
While most victims do not offer thieves their
personal information, they are not aware that
their information is contained on many documents
that they have not disposed of properly. For
example, thieves have been known to go through
people's trash cans looking for personal
information. When papers are thrown away without
being shredded, thieves can retrieve the
information and use it.
Thieves are also known to go through people's
mailboxes to obtain in-coming letters from banks
and/or credit card applications and use the data
from these various pieces of mail to apply for
loans or credit with the stolen information.
In-coming mail is not the only source of
mail-related information that thieves can acquire.
Out-going mail that is placed in a person's
mailbox for the mailman to pick up and take to the
post office is a great source of information for
thieves. When a flag is placed in the upright
position on a mailbox to indicate that letters are
inside waiting to be mailed, it's like a signal to
thieves that they should come on over and steal
it. Therefore, letters should always be mailed in
a post office mailbox instead of a personal/home
mailbox.
Other Ways to Prevent Identity Theft
It's not difficult to perform some easy steps to
prevent being a victim of identity theft. In
addition to properly disposing of paper containing
personal information and mailing letters at the
post office, following are some additional tips:
• Always destroy receipts, credit card
applications, tax information, canceled checks,
and mortgage information before throwing it away.
This means completely shredding it or even burning
it before it reaches the trash can.
• Even if a credit card is expired, cut it into
tiny little pieces before throwing it away. Some
people throw half of the tiny pieces into one
trash bag and half into another trash bag.
• Report stolen credit cards immediately to credit
card companies. Don't wait an entire day… do it
the minute they're discovered to be missing.
• Monitor
credit reports
on a regular basis, and watch for anything
suspicious. If anything out of the ordinary
appears, investigate it right away.
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