What can you do to stop identity theft from happening to you?

+1 vote
asked Jan 13, 2018 in Law & Legal by MS Vee (150 points)
What can you do to stop identity theft from happening to you?

What are some things I should or can do to prevent someone from stealing and using my identity?

2 Answers

0 votes
answered Jan 13, 2018 by Shelde (49,390 points)
You can stop identity theft from happening to you by making sure you completely destroy any sensitive documents.

Shred documents before recycling or throwing them into the trash or better yet if you can burn the documents.

Never give out personal info over the phone to people you don't know. If someone calls you claiming to be your credit card company or a debt collector hang up and call back to be sure you're talking to the right people and not some scammer.

If it's a true company or debt collector they will understand that you want to call them back to be sure you're talking to the right company and not giving out details to a scammer or other person ready to steal your identity.

Another thing I highly recommend you do and for nobody to be without is get identity theft protection through lifelock.

Paying for identity theft protection will be the best money you'll ever spend. Lifelock will monitor your credit and identity and will alert you to any fraudulent activity and will help you get your identity theft repaired should you need it.
0 votes
answered Nov 29, 2022 by Ifallasleepatwork (14,780 points)
Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

Identity theft is when someone steals your personal information, such as your Social Security Number, bank account number, and credit card information.

Identity theft can be committed in many different ways.

Some identity thieves sift through trash bins looking for bank account and credit card statements.

The three most common types of identity theft are financial, medical and online.

Some ways you can check and detect identity theft are.

Track what bills you owe and when they're due.

If you stop getting a bill, that could be a sign that someone changed your billing address.
Review your bills.
Check your bank account statement.
Get and review your credit reports.

The most common ways identity is stolen are through.

Phishing and SMiShing.
Phishing involves sending you a fraudulent email that looks to be authentic, say an email from your bank asking you to verify your account information.
Dumpster Diving.
Wireless Hacking.
Fake Lottery Winnings, Jobs, Etc.
ATM and Payment Machines.

Some warnings signs that someone may be stealing your identity include.

Unexplained charges or withdrawals.
Medical bills for doctors you haven't visited.
New credit cards you didn't apply for.
Errors on your credit report.
Collection notices or calls for unknown debt.
Your credit card or application for credit is denied.
Missing mail or email.

On average, it can take 100 to 200 hours over six months to undo identity theft.

The recovery process may involve working with the three major credit bureaus to request a fraud alert; reviewing your credit reports to pinpoint fraudulent activity; and reporting the theft.

To help protect yourself and your bank account from identity theft make sure to use a strong password for your login to your bank account and change the password to a new one as often as you can always using complex passwords.

Never allow someone over the internet to log in to your bank account because there are online refund scammers from India that get you to log into your bank account on your computer while they have remote control of your computer.

They can then drain your bank account.

Never let anyone you don't know onto your computer or into your bank account.

Be sure to shred or burn any documents that have your bank or personal information on them when you no longer need them.

Never give out any personal information to unknown people or companies and never give your debit card number out to anyone you don't know over the phone and stay away from any shady and bad looking websites.

I also recommend signing up for LifeLock Identity theft protection or any other Identity theft protection services and watch your credit reports often for any unusual activity.

If someone has withdrawn money from your bank account without your permission you need to immediately contact the bank and have them shut down your debit card and issue you a new one.

The bank will them investigate to hopefully find out who has withdrawn the money from your bank account and you also need to make a police report.

Go to the police station or call the non emergency phone number for the police station and make a report on the money stolen from your bank account.

If the bank finds out who has stolen the money from your bank account then they might be able arrest the person if they are found.

If you know who withdrew the money from your bank account let the police know and the bank know.

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