Protect Your Credit from Identity Theft
You must know that identity theft cases on online shopping are getting worse. Online scammers and identity thieves are all over the internet. What they do is they make their own websites that are very much alike to the original and widely recognized shopping sites in terms of site name and content. That way, they can mislead you and eventually dupe you to put your personal information on their fake sites. Identity theft also happens when you are not on the internet. That means your personal information can still be stolen even if you are at home, say, you have not tear down your bank account statements or any important bank documents containing your PIN and credit card details; you just throw it away somewhere. Upon receipt of anything that prints out your PIN, password or Social Security number, you should shred it or better yet, burn it. This way, nobody can just steal your personal information.
Furthermore, if you are robbed or your wallet containing your credit card or ATM card is lost or stolen, you would also be a victim of identity theft if no immediate action is done. The first thing you do is call right away your financial institution who issued your credit card or ATM card and have them cancelled and replaced all those lost or stolen cards. You will have to have your debit account closed or changed. Next, you have to report this case to the police and file a fraud report about this on your credit report.
Every time you give out your private information through online or over the phone, you are also risking yourself to identity theft. Prior to typing in your credit card information on a shopping site, be sure to double check the correct URL of the website to make sure you are on the right website and not a fake one. Most often than not, this is way overlooked by some people. Because of this, many identity thieves are taking advantage out of this negligence. Whenever you find something like this online, inform the original website about the fake site so that no further swindling can be done to the online buyers. Not only are you doing yourself a favor but also to other would-be victims. In a way, you also are protecting your credit from identity theft.
If you have a gut feeling that you may be an identity thief victim, first thing to do is to obtain a truthful and impartial credit report. Go over it thoroughly and try to look for suspicious or fraudulent transactions. In case you will discover newly-opened accounts or unfamiliar activities that are surely not made by you, get in touch with the respective companies and acquire a copy of the signatures created by the identity thief. If you discover these fraudulent activities quickly, then your credit report will be kept safe and secure. As much as possible, every activity you do should be documented and review your credit report regularly for accuracy.
