Monitor your credit cards and bank accounts like a guard dog

Many victims of identity fraud have confessed that they were never too keen on keeping track of their bank accounts or credit card statements. They simply overlooked it, and it was only when they were fed upon by identity thieves that they become aware of their mistakes.

Do not commit this mistake. You should keep a close tab on your bank accounts and credit card accounts. Keep 20 minutes free on Sundays and go through the statements. It should not take more than 20 minutes, and in just those many minutes you will get an idea about any anomaly in your credit card or bank accounts.

Keep a hawk eye on Credit reports and non-credit account information

You need to monitor your credit report to find out if any new fraudulent account has been opened using your details. For that, you also need to look closely on non-credit related account information.  You often get cues about misuse of your personal information by looking at these data. Check these periodically without failing even once.

File a complaint and get identity fraud issue resolved

Do your bit as soon as possible and wait for the regulators and financial institutions to resolve your issues, if you have been victimized by the identity thieves. Do not delay in putting the case through proper channel. Do everything required to repair the damage done because of that. Contact Social Security Number issuer, credit report agency, and financial institutions and get it fixed.

You should not procrastinate, and do as suggested above. You know the cost of procrastination, don’t you?

Tip 1: Protect your paper documents

Paper mails, credit card bills, and other documents should be filed and kept in a safe place far away from the preying eyes of predators (identity thieves). Do not give your documents to someone you cannot trust completely.

Tip 2: Do not get phished

A phishing email is one of the tools used by identity thieves to steal your data. These e-mails generally ask for your username and passwords and even personal data. Be on the look for such mails. Do not rush to give your details as soon as you see any mail from your bank asking for such details. More often that email is a phishing email, with which bank has nothing to do.

Tip 3: Fortify your system

Install antivirus with real-time scanning capability. Also install a firewall to protect anyone intruding in your system without your notice. You should also install manual Trojan, spyware, malware, and other scanners, which you should run at least once a week and check your system.

Start with installing the required protection on the PC. You do not necessarily need to spend money on these. There are lots of free tools available for that.

And among card frauds, 75% of fraud incident happened with credit cards, which is a rise of 12% compared to credit card frauds in 2008. The percentage of debit card fraud dipped by 2% making the total percentage of credit card fraud in 2009 equals 33%.

In 2009, the number of fraudulent credit card accounts also increased by 6% to reach 39% of total identity fraud victims compared to 33% of total identity fraud victims in 2008. The fraudulent new account opening also doubled up in 2009. The number of new e-mail payment accounts increased by 12%, whereas, 29% new accounts fraud victims complains about new mobile phone accounts fraudulently opened in their names.

These numbers are scary, and you have all the right to get scared as long as it keeps you on your toes working hard to fix any loophole in your personal security, particularly of identity.

Steps to take to keep credit card safe

• Do not flash your card on the first opportunity given to you to show it. Only use it with reliable vendors.
• In retail stores, make sure that your card is swiped in front of you.
• If you are going out for vacation then make sure to inform your credit card company and ask them not to send any bill as you suspect someone will pick it and use the address and other details on it.
• If possible avoid getting paper bills. Switch to e-mail bills. For this purpose, provide an e-mail ID that has https as prefix, in other words, which runs on a secure server.
• Keep your pin numbers, and CVV/CVV2 numbers handy. Do not share it.

These simple behavioral changes will keep your card secure, so why not practice it from now?

In dollar terms, identity fraud created a dent of $54 billion in the US financial system, which is a 12.5% rise on the amount ($48 billion) the US people have lost to identity thefts in 2008.

The study has found that the fraud resolution time has dropped by 30%. Not it takes around 21 hours to resolve the fraud. Around 50% of the victims filed a police record, which doubled the number of arrests, and prosecution increased by 3 fold. Conviction in 2009 also got doubled. This trend is seen as the main reason behind the drop in resolution time.

Full name (63%) followed by physical address (37%) are the two most compromised identification details, as found in the study. Health insurance information theft is also on the rise. It has risen by 4% in 2009 compared to 2008. In the same period Social Security number theft has decreased from 38% (in 2008) to 32%.

According to NSS Labs, who ran malware tests the most common browsers, Internet Explorer 8 is actually the safest internet browser.  IE8 had an 80% effectiveness rate at blocking most malware threats, compared to Firefox’s 27% and Safari’s 21%.  As for Google Chrome…well that browser isn’t very safe at all ending up all the way down at 7%.  This means, contrary to the widely practiced belief that Microsoft products are havens for malware and spyware, their internet browser is actually the safest.

Internet Explorer 8 also blocked the highest amount of phishing tests, leading the pack with 83%, although Firefox followed as a close second with 81%.  But that means both are pretty well at blocking phishing, although malware barricades are more important as phishing usually gives you a warning, whereas malware can be installed on your PC without your knowledge.

But despite this, it’s important to realize even with IE 8 and such a great malware resistance rate, you should still be careful.  You still need to control your browsing and make sure to only visit websites that you trust.  Even if your browser blocks most of the malware that the internet can throw at you, there’s still a percentage that leaks through.  That percentage leaves well more than enough space for your computer to be absolutely safe.  Just as important is having properly updated antivirus software.  Just because your browser can block most of the threats, doesn’t mean  you shouldn’t still scan you computer.

Which is why, if a company claiming to be a charity for Haiti contacts you about making a donation, check with the better business bureau.  They will have information on every legitimate charity, and that will tell you everything you need to know about whether or not you should donate with that company.  Although the best strategy is usually to stick to the larger charitable organizations.  Donating to charities like the Red Cross and UNICEF is the best way to guarantee that your money is actually going where you want it to.

Also, it’s best to always donate through the charity themselves.  Don’t trust a website or email that claims to offer the ability to give to the Red Cross yourself.  Always go to the website by typing the address into your browser’s address bar.  That way you can be sure every time, that the website is legitimate, and your identity won’t be stolen.

If you’d like resources to find charities that you can donate money or items to, try trustworthy websites like Charity Navigator.  With a site like that you can find a wide variety of legitimate charities, as well as the information you’ll need to make donations.  Never give money when solicited from a source that you don’t trust, and always double check to make sure you know where your money is going.

Duties of the credit bureau

The Credit bureau has following obligations:

1. The credit bureau is bound by rule to provide you free annual credit reports.
2. It has to provide credit scores.
3. The credit bureau need to enable one-call fraud alert.
4. Each and every investigation should be completed within 30 days. It may take 45 days if more documents is sought and provided.
5. It is the duty of the credit bureau to inform you within 5 days, if it feels that you have not provided enough documents to take your case forward. If it fails to do so then it must provide all the documents you send to the information provider (the vendor). The documents will be then verified by the information provider, and if anomaly is found, the said party needs to contact any of the national credit bureau.
6. On your request, the credit bureau must send the updated credit report to any party who sought your credit score in the last six month.
7. You can also ask the credit bureau to include a 100-word of the dispute in your file and in future reports, if an investigation failed to resolve the dispute.

You should check if the credit bureau is fulfilling its responsibility honestly or not. If you find any discrepancy then you can bring the issue with the concerned authority.

Recover your credit report in 4 easy steps

• Contact the credit bureau: If you suspect any information is misrepresented in your credit report or is inaccurate then call the credit bureau and tell it about your concern, immediately.
• Drop a mail: After informing the credit bureau about the inaccuracy, send them a mail through a government approved mail services and ask for the return receipt. It will tell you when your mail was received. File this receipt at appropriate place.
• Attach proof: You must send a copy each of each document supporting your case. In case of the absence of proper document send a copy of police report that you have filed, and the identity theft affidavit that you submitted.
• Mail content: In the mail you should include the following information:
  • Your full name and address
  • Items that you think are inaccurate in the credit report.
  • You should mention all the facts related to your case to the best of your knowledge, and also mention why you think the details are inaccurate.
  • Close your letter with a request to fix the report and delete the inaccurate data that is damaging your credit score.

You should always keep a copy of letter and its enclosure with you in safe custody. You may need it sometime in the future as a proof of your reporting. Wait for the credit bureau to respond. Most possibly your credit report will be fixed in time.

Where to look?

• Monthly credit card report
• Monitor deposit account
• Credit report

When to take action?

You should get alarmed and start taking the Identify theft damage control steps as soon as you find any suspicious activities in any of your financial document, credit report, or social security report. You should act immediately if any of the following happens:

• Missing statement or bill: You should be alarmed if the monthly bill or statement you receive in e-mail or through snail mail stops reaching you. If this happens, talk to the concern person if any expected bill or statement has not arrived before taking preventive measure.
• Unknown charges: If your monthly bill, bank statement, or credit card statement has entry that you do not understand then call the concerned company and ask for details of the charge levied on you.
• Debt collection calls: if you get calls from debt collectors or credit card companies to pay the bills of purchase you never made.
• Unsolicited credit cards: If one fine day you come home and find a credit card in your mail box, what should you do? Your first reaction should be to call the issuing company and ask why they send that.
• Denied credit card request: If you think you have been denied a credit card without any reason or have been offered an unfair terms then you need to find if you have become the victim of identity theft.

How to do it?

Prevention and monitoring is your single best defense against identity theft. Take following steps to keep yourself ahead of identity thieves.

• Email and SMS (text) alert: Enable e-mail and text (SMS) alert on for all types of financial transactions with the respective vendors, and set the limit to the lowest.
• Monitor online statement: make a habit of scanning monthly online bank and credit card statements.
• Monitor all financial accounts:

You should frequently check your deposit accounts, credit cards, brokerage account, or retirement account.

Well, this may look like a message engraved on the cover of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, the legendary book written by British writer Douglas Adams, but this is precisely the reaction you should have when confronted with identity theft. There are government agencies and federal as well as state laws to help you out. Even financial institutions will be a party in helping you in fixing the problem caused by identity theft.

So…don’t panic!

Recovery Steps

Step 1: Call banks and creditors

The sooner you become aware of the identity theft, the quicker you should inform your bank, credit card companies, and other financial institutions and creditors. Tell them the story and ask to suspend any transaction, and also close any account opened fraudulently. You may require signing an affidavit. Do not get alarmed or offended. This is an important step to safeguard the interest of an honest person like you by keeping conman out of taking the law for a ride.

Step 2: Report the crime

Now it’s time to report the crime. File a case with local police. This will help you in getting things done faster, and even some financial institutions need such complains to be filed before they act.

Step 3: Fraud Alert

You should contact any of the three consumer reporting companies listed below and place a fraud alert as soon as you suspect identify theft, or you lose your financial data.

Equifax

(800) 525-6285

www.equifax.com

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian

(888) 397-3742

www.experian.com

P.O. Box 9532

Allen, TX 75013

Transunion

(800) 680-7289

www.transunion.com

Fraud Victim Assistance Division,

P.O. Box 6790

Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Step 4: Check bank accounts

Verify if all the details are intact in the bank accounts and has not been tempered with. If you find any anomaly or misuse then contact your bank and file a complaint asking for the remedy.

Step 5: Social security number

If you think your Social Security Number (SSN) has been used to get a loan or get a job or whatever, call Social Security Administration hotline at (800) 269-0271.

Call (800) 772-1213 and ask for a copy of your Social Security Statement. This will help you verify the earnings reported on your SSN.

Step 6: Driving license

Your name and Social Security Number may have been used to acquire a driving license or a non-driver’s ID. Contact Department of Motor Vehicles and file a request for the verification.

Step 7: mails

Stealing address by identity thieves to misuse it is not unheard of. Visit the website of the U.S. Postal inspection service or call your local post office for the number of postal inspection service office. Call them and report your identity theft, and ask them about address verification.

Follow these steps and minimize the damage done by an identity thief. And don’t panic!