|
Are you or is someone you know an identity theft victim? Do you fear for you and your family’s safety against this type of crime? How certain are you that you are doing everything you can to protect yourself from fraud? According to a study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, approximately 8.1 million individuals were victimized by identity fraud in the U.S. in 2010. Costing one in every 25 Americans an average of $631 worth of damages, the victims suffered a total of 37 billion dollars in financial losses during the same year. The figures speak for themselves. Surely no one will argue that ID theft remains to be one of the biggest consumer threats today. Identity theft is a global issue that’s proving to be quite a challenge for companies and governments. Indeed, just as officials are discovering new ways to stop or prevent the crime, fraudsters are also finding new ways to get pass security measures and continue their business. What can we do about it? As consumers, one of the most effective ways we can prevent identity theft or at least minimize its effects is by regularly monitoring our credits. Why? Finding early signs of fraud in our credit records is perhaps the best way to determine if someone has committed ID theft against us. It gives us the ability to look at the issue and immediately do something about it. According to Javelin Study & Research, “The longer identity fraud goes undetected, the more expensive and difficult to resolve it tends to be for the consumer.” It is important to know that monitoring your credit report is a very effective way to minimize the impact of fraud in our lives. It does not, however, totally prevent it. What it does is empower us with knowledge that we can act upon. ID theft protection measures Credit reports contain all sorts of information about you and your financial transactions including the types of bank accounts you have and the methods by which you pay your bills. Most people do their credit check by requesting for the information. Federal law requires that, upon request, each of the major nationwide consumers reporting agencies provide you with a free copy of your credit report annually. Once you have a copy of your reports, take time to look at each one carefully. Look for inquiries from companies you’ve never contacted, unfamiliar accounts, and debts that were incurred without your knowledge. Make sure all personal identifying information, like your Social Security number, address (es), name or initials, and employers are accurate. Another way of doing credit check is with the use of credit monitoring. Credit monitoring is a type of agreement you enter with companies who are willing to review your credit report on a daily basis to monitor for any changes. Although highly convenient, it comes at a price. Conclusion No matter how you decide to do it, it is important that you monitor your credit to prevent ID theft. Early detection is a key to stopping this crime in its tracks. When faced, with fraud, don’t be afraid to promptly act on it. Contact your banks and take post identity theft measures. Amy is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances. Follow her and discover more on how annual credit checkup can prevent id theft and dealing with the cases of stolen identity and prevent yourself from id theft.
Related Articles -
Identity theft victim, prevent identity theft, monitor your credit to prevent id theft, id theft protection measures, take post identity theft measure,
| 
