Identity theft has grown as a menace with the advancement in technology and growth of e-services. In the United States alone, the identities of 8.4 million people was stolen, costing around $49 billion roughly coming out to be $5700 per victim. These figures alone show how major a threat it is to the civilized world.
However there are quite a few means by which you can prevent and protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft. And being aware of it makes the fight against all forms of identity theft all the more effective. As such the steps that help prevent identity theft are as follow
- Avoid carrying all your cards, passport, birth certificate, etc. together i.e. carry them along only when required.
- In case of a lost or a stolen card, report it immediately to the credit card company and the police.
- Do not leave any mail in the mailbox either overnight or on the weekends.
- Also match all card receipts with your monthly statements. Also keep a tab on your accounts daily.
- Beware of e-mails requesting any kind of account information.
- Destroy the older cards that are no longer in use.
- Do not leave any receipts at ATMs.
- When shopping online, never make use of your debit card or even your check card.
- Also sign up with a credit monitoring service that alerts you in case of any activity that might indicate identity theft.
So the basic idea in trying to prevent identity theft from taking place is to regularly check your credit accounts, guard your plastic cards and most importantly protect all your personal information.
Also, in case a fraud takes place with you and you are made aware of it, immediately get in touch with the 3 major credit reporting agencies by phone as well as letter in order to put an alert of fraud on your credit profile. Call the police of the area where the fraud has taken place as well. This might not stop the fraud but will be a step forward in getting you out of it.
Thus, identity theft is a major form of e-crime where the thief is extremely smart. Therefore all steps possible and necessary should be taken in order to help you avoid getting caught in its trap.
