How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Identity Theft
by As a stay-at-home mom, I always encounter news from the radio, online, television and newspaper about identity theft. It is a serious crime and I hope that authorities shall have unique ways in reducing it. I just thought that I might just write the information that I learned so that I can share it to the rest of the world. It is truly sad that people whose identities have been stolen since they shall spend a lot of time and money cleaning up the unfortunate things that the thieves have made of their credit record. As a result, they may even lose out on job opportunities, loans for college or higher education, cars and housing because their name they protected for so long was tarnished. The worst part of all, these innocent people may even get arrested for crimes they didn’t commit.
There are people in this world who do not have conscience and all they like to do is harm others. Identity theft happens when somebody uses your personal information in order to obtain access to your existing accounts or sometimes open new accounts or credit lines posted in your name. There are numerous ways that thieves may gain access to your personal information. First is when your personal information was stolen from your purse or wallet, second is a home break in, third is when they rummage through your public trash, a practice known as “dumpster diving”, fourth is through your personal information on your imprinted checks, fifth is your medical or school records that are easily accessed by any untrustworthy employee and last is the information you provide to a fraudulent telemarketer as well as any information you supply over the internet
Once these thieves will have access from your personal information, they may easily commit fraud or theft. Just imagine that they can even call your credit card issuer to change the billing address on your account and runs up charges on them. The thieves will enjoy it because the bills are being sent to a different address and possibly it could take time before you realize there’s a problem. They may even open new credit card accounts in your name because when they use the credit cards and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent accounts are reported directly on your credit report and not to their names. As bad as it gets, they could even establish a phone or wireless service in addition to your name. If they still want to get more from your hard earned money, they could open a bank account in your name again and write bad checks on that account, counterfeit checks or authorize electronic transfers and drain your bank account. They may use your name to the police officers during an arrest and the worst part if they didn’t show up for the court date stated, a warrant for arrest is issued in your name and not to them. The list of things that they could destroy from innocent victims is tremendous and they may even file for bankruptcy using your name again to avoid paying debts they’ve incurred. These thieves could also buy a car they want by taking out an auto loan using your precious name.
There are number of ways to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. Always remember not to print unnecessary information on your personal checks, an example is your phone number or drivers license. Never ever print your Social Security Number on your checks or share it to anyone. Try to consider listing your name and telephone number without an address if possible. Review your credit reports from two to three credit reporting agencies at least once a year and just opt out of pre-approved credit card offers in writing and send it to the credit reporting agencies.
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