Identity Theft is America?s fastest growing type of robbery.
There have been an estimated 9.9 million victims in America and
over 40% of all consumer complaints in the U.S. involve identity
theft. About half of the victims do not know how the thief
obtained their personal information.
How do these people get my name? If you have a credit card, your
name is sold to third parties, if you do not want this to
happen, you must contact your credit card companies to inform
them that you do not want your information sold. Check the
privacy notice that comes with your bill. If you enter contests,
your information becomes public. Also, when you buy a new
product, and fill out the warranty cards, those companies sell
that information you provide to other companies. Since when does
your toaster manufacturer need to know you households? annual
income to extend a warranty on your toaster? Thieves use
dumpster digging, phishing, and pharming to obtain your
information. Things they steal from your trash include:
?Pre-approved credit card offers ? they complete them and have
the card sent to them at a different address ?Loan applications-
they complete the application and have the money sent to a phony
address. ?Bank statements- they then have your bank account
number and can print counterfeit checks
Becky Palmer, a Consumer Credit Counselor, knew of someone who
had their wallet stolen, and they used the credit card to buy a
$5000.00 gift card at Wal mart, this then become very hard to
trace.
People that are more at risk are senior citizens, people with
disabilities and immigrants, but remember that everyone,
including children are at risk. Senior citizens are home all
day; they might get a phone call from a fake charity asking for
money. Immigrants are desperate for credit, they may have just
arrived in the US and know they need credit to do anything and
are not aware of these scams. People with disabilities are home,
and may become a victim of phone or online fraud. There have
also been cases of home care providers taking advantage of their
clients. Remember, it is not always a stranger that can steal
someone?s identity. Did you know children can be victims of
identity theft? This could affect or ruin their credit before
they even are able to build up credit for themselves. There have
been cases of parents using a child?s name for their electric
bill or phone bill when they have bad credit or owe the utility
company money. Thieves will obtain the social security number of
these children then use that number to get credit cards and rack
up purchases.
Some of these scammers will call you and say they are from a
fictitious charity. They will offer to have your contribution
automatically deducted from your checking account and will ask
for your routing number, bank name, and account number. DO NOT
GIVE OUT THIS INFORMATION! If you pick up a call from a
telemarketer, ask them the following questions and if they are a
fraud, they will hang up quickly.
?Who do you work for? They will try to give you the name of the
fake charity here, so ask them ?who pays your salary??
?How much of my donation (percentage) goes to this charity and
what is the rest of the money used for?? If they are for real,
they can easily give you this information.
?What is the charity?s full name, address and phone number?
Once you have the above information you can check with the state
attorney generals? office or secretary of state to see if the
charity is registered. Also check the charity?s rating thru the
Better Business Bureau at www.give.org.
About the author:
Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in credit and debt
collection. For more information on Michelle?s services or to
order any of her books please email her at
michelle@michelledunn.com or visit www.michelledunn.com &
www.credit-and-collections.com
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