Protecting yourself and your name from Identity Theft

 

By Belynda Holt Pinto

As many as 9 million Americans have had their identities stolen each year according to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). This crime can affect anyone that has a social security card. Once thieves secure your information they can use this information in a variety of ways:

Credit card fraud: To take out credit cards with your information or have your bills diverted from your house while they charge items on your credit card.

Phone or utilities fraud: To sign-up for utility services using  your good name.

Bank/finance fraud: To create counterfeit checks using your name or account number, or take out a loan with your name.

Government documents fraud: They can use your Social Security number to get benefits.

What can you do to protect yourself and your family?

The following tips were recently promoted in Money magazine:

1. Go to www.donotcall.gov to remove your phone number from large call lists. 

 

2. Order your free annual report at www.annualcreditreport.com

Every year you are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three credit reporting companies, by going to this site you can get yours from each of these companies. I did this and recommend always choosing the free version on all of these.  Check to make sure all your information is accurate and up-to-date.

 

 

Other people in our office use the following service:

 

Lifelock, is a service company that manually locks up your social security number and does not allow any new activity on it unless you manually take the lock off to make sure thieves are not using your credit card without your knowledge.  They also remove your name and address from junk mail lists and pre-approved credit card offer lists. www.lifelock.com.

 

Click here to view more identity theft protection tips suggested by the Federal Trade Commission

If you are the victim of identity theft then visit the Federal Trade Commission website for specific steps you should take to clear your name.

These steps should keep your personal information safe and help reduce the number of new identity theft victims.