Identity Theft is a frightening and overwhelming experience if it does happen to you. You may not know it is happening for months or years! It is my desire to help other people prevent the nightmare I have had to go through myself.

How to protect yourself from Identity Theft?

• You need to know who the Identity Thieves typically are
• You need to know how Identity Thieves get your personal information
• You need to know steps you can take to protect yourself from Identity Theft.

Who are the Identity Thieves? An Identity Thief can be literally anyone, but all too frequently he/she is someone you know. Better than half of all Identity Thefts are committed by someone close to you, such as:

• An employee
• A neighbor
• A friend
• A roommate
• A sibling
• A child
• Even a parent

The balance of Identity Thefts are committed by people you may have never met.

How do Identity Thieves get your information?

Whether the thief is someone you know or not, the thing that Identity Thieves have in common is that they have acquired enough of your personal information to act in your stead. This information can be acquired from:

• Utility bills,
• Bank and credit card statements,
• Insurance records,
• Legal documents,
• Drivers licenses, Etc.

The Identity Thief can collect these documents from your trash, your mail, and any place you leave such documents out in public view. Such information can also be purchased from someone who has collected the necessary information for the purpose of sale to others.

What steps can you take to protect yourself?

• One of the most important steps that you can take to protect yourself from Identity Theft is to shred all of your personal papers. Shredding documents, such as utility bills, medical bills, credit card statements, etc will prevent Identity Thieves from gaining access to your account numbers or even social security numbers. If they can’t gain access to this information, they cannot steal your identity. You should also consider shredding your junk mail because that can contain personal information that Identity Thieves can use against you.
• Secure your computer. Your computer may contain all the needed information for a successful theft, if you do a lot of work or shopping on the computer. You will need to make sure that your computer has a current version of anti-virus software and that it is updated regularly (preferably daily). A good firewall will also prevent unauthorized access to your computer, across the Internet, and to the information it contains.
• Be cautious about the actions of those around you. It has been said that, "Locks do not keep out criminals, but may prevent an honest man from becoming a criminal." With that thought in mind, never expose those around you to information they do not have a necessity to know. Don’t tempt them by leaving information where it is readily accessible without your knowledge.
• Don’t be taken in by "phishing" scams. These are emails which come to you unsolicited and which invite you to provide information that can permit access to your records. Some of these schemes involve "too good to be true" promises of wealth. NEVER respond to these offers. Other scams may appear to be from a bank or credit card company indicating that your records need to be corrected. NEVER provide such data over the Internet. DO NOT< click on any link in the email message. If the contact is a legitimate message from your bank or other financial firm, they will instruct you to go to their normal website for access to any messages or warnings.
• Monitor your bank and credit card statements, to detect any transactions which you did not authorize. These transactions are not necessarily large amounts of money and might otherwise be ignored. No matter how much money is involved, if you do not recognize the transaction, contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately and protest the entry. It’s much better to be embarrassed because of a transaction you forgot making rather than to be ripped off by an Identity Thief.
• Monitor your credit records maintained by the three big credit bureaus. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit record from each of these three bureaus once a year. By spacing your request at four month intervals, you can obtain one free copy from each of these bureaus. Be sure to use the Federal Government’s authorized website to obtain these reports.
• Use Credit Alerts and Credit Freezes. These are tools that can be helpful, but do require care in use. Credit Alerts put the credit bureaus on notice that you must be contacted whenever credit is requested. Credit Freezes stop all credit authorization until the freeze is lifted by you.
• Consider the services of an Identity Protection Service. The cost is typically $10 to $15 per month and the different companies provide different degrees of service, from credit monitoring to legal advice and protection.

Anyone can become an Identity Theft victim; however, every step you take to defend yourself against theft makes it that much more difficult for even a dedicated thief to steal your identity.

After you signup, Lifelock has all 3 credit bureaus set fraud alerts on your behalf. As a result, if anyone attempts to open a line of credit in your name you’ll be contacted at the phone number you provide. Since fraud alerts only last for 90 days, Lifelock will continue to have the credit bureaus update your fraud alerts before they expire – resulting in permanent fraud alerts.

Annually, Lifelock will have a copy of your credit report sent to you from each credit bureau.

They remove your name from the mailing lists of pre-approved credit card and insurance offers. In effect, this reduces the amount of junk mail you receive.

If your wallet is ever lost or stolen, Lifelock will provide a representative to assist you in cancelling your affected accounts (credit cards, bank accounts, etc…). They will also provide assistance in completing the paperwork for a new driver’s license, social security card, credit/debit cards, checks, etc…

Through their identity monitoring package, Lifelock monitors known criminal websites for illegal selling or trading of your personal information. Additionally, if anyone sets up a new address with your name in any nationwide address database you’ll be notified. (This helps them to determine if a criminal may have changed your address to steal your mail and get your financial information.)

Finally, if your identity is stolen while you’re a customer, Lifelock will spend up to $1,000,000 to help clear your name. This includes paying for any legal, accounting, investigative, or other services needed to resolve the situation. Also, if you lose any money as a result of the identity theft, Lifelock will reimburse you.

Is Lifelock worth the money?

You can have the credit bureaus set fraud alerts, remove your name from pre-approved offers, and get a copy of your annual credit report for free – if you do the work yourself. Personally, I don’t feel like contacting all three credit bureaus every 90 days to reapply fraud alerts. I don’t want to spend loads of time getting my name removed from mailing lists, either. I consider the assistance with a lost/stolen wallet and identity monitoring package to be gravy. Those features don’t really sway me one way or the other. The $1,000,000 insurance policy is a definite plus, though.

I probably wouldn’t pay more than $15 – $20 a month for the identity protection that Lifelock offers but, at $9 a month it’s worth it to me. Within a couple months of signing up I noticed the amount of junk mail I received decreased dramatically. Also, it’s nice to have the peace of mind that I have fraud alerts on my credit reports and am insured in the event my identity is stolen.

If you’re interested in signing up for Lifelock, or for more information, you can click here or on the logo below. If you sign up for the monthly plan it will only cost you $9 per month. There’s a 10% off promo built into the links that knocks it down to those prices.

Below are some steps to follow to help safeguard your personal information:

• Don’t give out personal information and credit card or bank account numbers on the phone, through regular mail or e-mail, or over the Internet unless you initiated the contact, you know who you are dealing with, or the Web address (URL) begins with "https"
• Memorize your Social Security Number (SSN), passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs). Don’t carry them with you
• Shred or destroy unwanted documents that contain personal information such as charge receipts, credit offers and applications, insurance forms, physician statements, bank checks and statements and expired credit cards and unused credit card applications
• Keep your purse, wallet and items that contain personal information in a safe place at home
• Match your credit card receipts against your monthly bills and check your monthly bank statements for accuracy – some fraudulent transactions involve small dollar amounts
• Never click on links sent in unsolicited e-mail
• Do not use easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number for PINs or passwords
• Use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your home computer
• Always have a picture driver’s license. This makes it more difficult to change and forge
• Annually review your credit reports for accuracy
• Report lost or stolen credit cards immediately
• If you don’t have a locked mailbox, put your outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or take it to your local post office and promptly remove mail from your mailbox after it has been delivered

Watch for signs of identity theft. The quicker you catch it, the less likely you’ll incur a major hassle or expense. Follow up with creditors if any of the following occur:

• Your bills don’t arrive on time. This could mean an identity thief has taken over your credit card account and changed your billing address
• You notice inaccuracies or unauthorized transactions on your credit reports (Enroll with LifeLock, it helps users to proactively obtain free credit reports each year)
• You notice charges on your financial account or billing statement that you did not make
• You receive unexpected credit cards or account statements
• You are denied credit for no apparent reason
• You receive calls or letters about purchases you did not make
• You may also receive a call from your credit card company asking if you made any outstanding charges or large purchases at an unusual location. This would be a tip-off that your information has been taken even though your physical card wasn’t.

1. Secure personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help, or are having work done in your home.
2. Use a paper shredder to shred sensitive documents before discarding them.
3. Ask about information security procedures in your workplace or at businesses, doctor’s offices or other institutions that collect your personally identifying information. Find out who has access to your personal information and verify that it is handled securely. Ask about the disposal procedures for those records as well. Find out if your information will be shared with anyone else. If so, ask how your information can be kept confidential.
4. Never tell anyone your personal information over the phone or send it through emal, or fax. Most legitimate companies will not request this information from you via phone or any other unprotected source.
5. Monitor your credit report on a monthly basis to watch for unusual activitiy. Many credit report services will alert you to such activity and even assist you in resolving issues. We have partnered with Equifax to offer you their Credit Watch product.
6. Place passwords on your credit card, bank, and phone accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.

By following these steps you can lower your risk of becoming an identity theft victim. Being informed is the most valuable protection against identity theft.

How many promotional statements have you tossed that may have your mailing address and full name indicated right on them? Identity theft often doesn’t require much to leave you in a financial mess.

The question becomes, "What can the average person do to ensure that personal information is kept personal, and to guard against possible theft?" Here is a list of suggestions that will help you get the best possible identity theft protection.

Look at your credit reports. These reports contain the kind of information an identity thief is interested in, and the statistics that you should have a good understanding of, in terms of theft protection. The report shows what accounts you have and how you pay your bills.

The law allows you to obtain a free version of this report at least once a year. If an identity thief is operating with your information, this report will show it in some way.

Review the credit reports. Look for any benchmarks that would tell you of possible theft, like inquiries from companies you haven’t contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debits on accounts that can’t be explained. Check to see that all personal information is correct and that an Identity Thief hasn’t tampered with it.

Review your financial statements. Look at your accounts and billing statements on a regular basis. Watch for any changes that seem odd, like debits that you can’t account for and other things that could be the sign of possible theft.

Many victims of identity theft are the last people to know about the situation. Identity theft protection only works if you put it into action before a situation can occur. Sometimes you may only discover you’ve been victimized when you are declined for a car loan or mortgage because of something negative on your credit report.

You may find out about credit cards you’ve never owned that were applied for by an identity thief through a phone call from a collection agency looking for money on unpaid debts. Investigate these occurrences with your bank as soon as you become aware of them to.

Knowing your own security vulnerabilities and how to prevent identity theft are prime methods of its protection. In a world of online shopping and paper statements, it’s your best defense against having to deal with the fallout of a quick, easy crime many people are committing.

When your identity is stolen, many people don’t realize it at first. It’s not really "stolen" in the strictest sense of the word, because you still have all your information. But someone else has a copy of it that they can use to their own advantage. Often it starts with a couple of mysterious payments appearing on your credit records. Usually they are small, and not really harmful. But they get bigger. Do you worry about your credit report and your credit score?  If you have answered yes to these questions, you may be considering whether or not you should consider engaging the assistance of an identity theft protection service.  Through this article you are provided with some general information about identity theft protection services and how this type of assistance might work to protect you and your credit report and credit score.

In regard to your credit score, your credit report and the prospect of engaging an identity theft protection service, you need to understand what this type of service can do for you.  This type of service actually provides to you assistance in two general areas.  First of all, this type of service actually does monitor your credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies.  If there is any activity at all involving your credit reports – including inquiries – you are notified immediately by the identity theft protection service.  Through this notification, you will know immediately if something unauthorized is taking place – which is a sure sign that you have become the victim of identity theft.

Another type of assistance that these services provides involves cleaning up the “mess” that can be left behind if you do become the victim of identity theft.  This includes getting your credit score back on track.  In this regard, rather than you having to “run around” to take care of business in the aftermath of being the victim of identity theft, the identity theft protection service does this important work for you.

You do need to keep in mind that there is nothing that an identity theft protection service can do that you can’t do on your own.  For example, when it comes to notifications about your credit report and your credit score, you actually can arrange for such notification on your own by contacting the three major credit reporting agencies.  The three major credit reporting agencies can place a fraud alert on your account.  With such an alert, you get notified by the agencies if there is any activity, including an inquiry to them from a lender or some other entity.

Further, you can take all of the necessary steps on your own to “clean up the mess” that exists if you do become the victim of identity theft.  But, you do need to keep in mind that this can be very time consuming.

In the end, when it comes to protecting your credit report and your credit score from the after effects of  identity theft, you really may find that your circumstances suggest the need to engage an identity theft protection service.

What is Identity Theft?

Many different criminal activities are called identity theft, but they my actually be another crime. Usually, however, identity theft, identity fraud, and credit card fraud are all lumped together as identity theft. Before you can protect yourself from it, you should know what identity theft is.

How Does Identity Theft Happen?

Most people think that identity theft only happens online, but that’s about as far from the truth as you can get. Studies show that identity theft happens most often in the real world, in your everyday activities. Your credit cards and your mail are two of the areas where you’re at the most risk, but there are many others, as well.

When Does Identity Theft Happen?

Identity theft can happen at any time–when you’re at home, when you’re at a restaurant, when you’re on vacation. Thieves don’t care what day it is, what time it is, or what’s happening with the world around them. All they’re concerned with is how to steal your personal information for profit.

How Can I Protect My Identity?

Preventing identity theft can’t be accomplished with any single activity. Instead, you should have a plan for monitoring your identity from several different angels. Fortunately, there are some great and cost-effective services to help prevent and detect identity theft. We recommend identity theft prevention services, such as LifeLock, its about preventing identity theft. This service set fraud alerts with the credit bureaus so a new account can’t be opened in your name without you being contacted. LifeLock Free Trial Coupon – Click Here

The crime of identity theft occurs when someone, without your knowledge, fraudulently uses your personal information to obtain goods, services, credit, or your assets. As criminals continue to employ more sophisticated and high-tech methods, the number of identities exposed in a single theft increases dramatically. Every week, retail companies, financial institutions, and national organizations are breached, and the personal and financial information of hundreds of thousands, in some cases even millions of Americans is stolen.

Financial costs aside, identity theft victims can spend frustrating hours talking to credit card companies, banks, police and credit bureaus repairing the damage. That’s why it’s more important than ever you take precautionary steps to help reduce your risk of identity theft.

LifeLock, the leader in identity theft protection, works proactively to help protect your identity – even if your information falls into the wrong hands. As a LifeLock member, if you become a victim of identity theft because of a failure in their service, they\’ll help fix it at their expense, up to $1,000,000.

Here’s what you get with LifeLock Identity theft Protection service:

eRecon

LifeLock monitors the Internet for the illegal selling of your information with eRecon™. Identity thieves can buy, sell, and trade identity information over the Internet in seconds. eRecon™ patrols over 10,000 criminal websites and notifies you if your personal information is found being misused online.

WalletLock

If your wallet is ever lost or stolen, call LifeLock and a WalletLock™ representative will help you contact each credit card, bank, or document issuing company to cancel your accounts and replace your lost documents. These include your credit/debit cards, driver’s license, Social Security card, insurance cards, checkbook, and even traveler’s checks (pictures, cash, and other monies excluded).

TrueAddress

LifeLock verifies change of address requests submitted on your behalf. By simply placing a change of address request, identity thieves can steal your mail, giving them access to your personal information. LifeLock monitors any changes to your address with TrueAddress™, and contacts you if the address on file for your membership does not match the request submitted to various nationwide address databases.

Free Annual Credit Reports

LifeLock requests copies of your free annual credit reports be sent to you. These free reports allow you to check for any potential problems or discrepancies.

Reduced Pre-Approved Credit Offers

LifeLock will request that your name be removed from pre-approved credit offer mailing lists. Over time, you will notice a dramatic decrease in the amount of pre-approved credit card offers you receive in the mail.

24-Hour Customer Service

LifeLock Member Services department is available to help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Members also have instant, anytime access to their accounts through the membersonly myLifeLock website.

$1 Million Total Service Guarantee

As a LifeLock member, if you become a victim of identity theft because of a failure in their service, they\’ll help fix it at their expense, up to $1,000,000. (Restrictions apply. See lifelock.com for details.)

Become a LifeLock member today and help protect yourself and your family from one of America’s fastest growing crimes. LifeLock Free Trial Coupon – Click Here

Internet Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the US. You may not know it, but your computer collects all kinds of information about you and stores it in files hidden deep on your hard drive. Files like cache, browser history and other temporary Internet files can be used to reconstruct you online habits. These files store information like logins and passwords, names addresses, and even credit card numbers.

Here are some ways thieves access your personal information:

Dumpster Diving. Thieves look through your trash for bills and other paperwork with personal information, such as paychecks and credit card offers. The best line of defense is to shred all documents with personal information, including labels on magazines.

Skimming. An unscrupulous employee at a retail establishment uses a special device while processing your credit/debit card to capture your card number; they may use it for fraudulent charges, or sell it to other thieves. There is very little you can do to prevent skimming, except for thoroughly checking your credit card statements monthly for unauthorized charges.

Phishing. A fictitious financial institution or company sends you an e-mail, requesting personal information. Banks and credit unions will never request personal information over the Internet. Never reveal any personal information over the Internet unless you have initiated it, such as when making an online purchase.

Change of address. Thieves will also change your address, by completing a change-of-address form at the post office. That way, they will receive all of your personal information, including bank statements. If you fail to receive your mail, even for a day or two, contact the post office.

Theft. Then there is the never-gone-out-of-style stealing. They may steal your personnel records from work; snatch your wallet or purse; take mail, including bank and credit card statements and pre-approved credit offers.

You should photocopy both sides of the credit cards in your wallet and keep them in a safe place. If your wallet is stolen, you’ll know who to contact. Some folks will invest in a lockable mailbox, or use a post office box, to prevent thieves from stealing their mail.

Pretexting. Thieves use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources. That is why you have to answer so many questions, such as your mother’s maiden name, when you make an inquiry.

If you believe that you’ve been hit by internet identity theft, then you need to move quickly to notify all existing financial institutions which have entered into creditor relationship with you (banks, mortgage firms, retail merchants credit card companies). Alert each firm of your suspicion regarding internet identity theft or account plundering by unauthorized persons.

Internet identity theft can be much more devastating than conventional identity theft because most victims of Internet identity theft are completely unaware that anything has been stolen from them until it is much too late.

The Internet has become a tool for people intent on committing the crime of identity theft. Therefore, it is important for you to understand the unholy marriage between the Internet and identity theft and what you can do to protect yourself from becoming the victim of identity theft when online.

Perhaps the most important factor that you need to keep in mind when it comes to the Internet and identity theft is something that is known as phishing. Phishing is one of the most pervasive methods that are being used online by criminals intent on stealing your identity.

Phishing involves the sending to you of an email or an instant message that is designed ultimately to snag your personal or financial information. The normal drill with these emails or instant messages is that there will be a plug within the message that is designed to direct you to a link within the email. The link will then convey you to what is intended to be a bona fide and reputable website. Indeed, you might think that you are at the website of a well known financial institution or merchant.

Once at this sham site, you will be directed to enter personal and financial information either to purchase a product or to update your information. In fact, all you will be doing in reality is handing over your personal and financial information to an identity thief.

In the end, it is vitally important for you to take all the steps available to you to protect yourself and your identity when you are online. This includes making certain that you never inappropriately volunteer your personal or your financial information when on the internet. And, it also means that you make sure that you maintain effective and up to date anti-spyware and firewall applications on your computer as well.