Reducing your chances of being a victim of Identity Fraud

When it comes to Identity Theft,  no one is immune. It happens to as many as 750,000 people annually. It happened to our agency 2 years ago. It's happened to several of our clients. The common thread is: no one knows how it could have happened, but it did.

Here's our scenario: Paul is sitting at his desk, opening the day's mail, which on this particular day included the credit card statement he uses for agency purchases. (For those not familiar with our location, we are located on the sixth story of an old office building in the heart of downtown Lowell. We are surrounded by concrete, cars, similar buildings and pigeons on 5 sides. The ceiling, roof & sky is the only thing above us.  We're pretty isolated up here). Imagine his surprise to see he had been charged $5600.00 for farm equipment that was purchased somewhere in Kansas, from a company he'd never heard of. Apparently, it was delivered to some place in Missouri. Fortunately, he was able to clear up the problem relatively quickly and cheaply: it only took 32 phone calls, filling out & notarizing 4 forms, a recorded statement, and 6 months of time. Many people aren't that lucky. 

For many people, the fraudulent expenses run into the tens of thousands of dollars, require attorneys, damage people's credit scores, create financial hardship, and may take years to straighten out. Some people may lose time out of work to meet with attorneys and company representatives, or to chase down paperwork.

Fortunately, there are ways you can protect yourself, and most ways only cost you a little of your time & effort.

Tear up or shred all credit card statements, solicitations, and other documents that contain private financial information. Empty your mailbox every day, lock it, or get a PO Box. Don't mail payments from your home, use the post office or a mailbox. Never leave ATM, credit card or gas station receipts behind. Review all credit card statements carefully and immediately question any transactions you do not recognize. Cancel any accounts you do not use.

When writing checks to credit card companies, just use the last 4 digits of your account number as a reference number. Next time you order checks, use your initials (not your first name) printed on the check. Your bank will know how you sign your checks, but a thief will not.  Do not put your social security number on your checks. Question retailers on if they REALLY need to put you SSN on the check. Use your work telephone number instead of your home number. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "photo ID required".  

Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call. Keep the photocopy in a safe place (not your car or your desk at work.) If you have a passport, copy that as well. 

Safeguard your social security number. Do not put it on checks, or give it out over the phone, unless you're absolutely positive of who you're speaking with. One telephone scam involved people being told they'd skipped jury duty. The caller asked for a social security number to "look into it further". The scammer already has your name, phone number, and probably your address, and with your social security number, all manner of bad things can happen.   When dealing with phone solicitors, find out who they are, what company they represent, and the reason for the call. Contact the company yourself to confirm what you were told before revealing any of your personal data.

Take your name off marketing lists by calling 1-888-382-1222, the Do Not Call Registry.

Once a year, you are entitled to receive a copy of your Credit Report. You may obtain it by Calling any or all of the 3 Credit Bureaus. Equifax 1-800-525-6285, Experian 1-888-397-3742, or TransUnion 1-800-680-7289. If anything does happen, you may want to contact the Social Security Administration fraud line at 1-800-269-0271.

If you do become a victim of Identity Theft, here are some things you need to do. Contact the creditors for any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently-speak with their fraud department, and follow up in writing. File a report with local police, and get a copy of the report. Keep records of everything you have written, and of phone calls you have made, and who you spoke to.

Information for this article was taken from moneycentral.msn.com & a corporate attorney's advice.