Identity Theft Grows; Tips to Protect Yourself
Identity theft and credit card fraud continue to rapidly increase throughout the country.
TJX recently announced that 45 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen over an 18 month period. The latest Nilson Report says that fraud losses incurred by credit card issuers in 2006 reached an all-time high of $1.24 billion, up 9.3% from $1.14 billion in 2005. In a new Zogby Interactive Survey, 91% of those surveyed said they are concerned that their identity might be stolen and used to make unauthorized purchases.
According to the FTC, almost 10 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year and the average per victim is $4,800. Identity theft complaints to the FTC increased 18% from 215,177 in 2003 to 255,565 in 2005.
"Consumers can no longer assume that the odds are against identity theft or fraud happening to them," says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. "It is extremely important to be aware of the dangers and take every precaution to protect yourself."
Here are tips to protect your identity:
1. Every month, monitor your credit card band bank statements. If anything is incorrect, report it immediately.
2. Get a copy of your credit report. Each year, you can receive a free report from each of the three reporting agencies ( http://www.annualcreditreport.com ). Stagger these and get one every four months, so you can get a current idea of what is going on with your accounts. According to Transunion, 65% of consumers say they have never taken advantage of receiving a free credit report; an additional 16% check their credit reports less often than once a year.
3. Limit what you carry in your wallet to just the credit cards and identification that you must have. Clean receipts out of your wallet and car several times a week.
4. Shred these things: receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician
statements, bank checks and statements, expired charge cards, convenience checks and
credit offers you get in the mail.
5. Do not give out personal data for loyalty programs.
6. Mail anything with personal information or payment at the post office, not your mailbox.
7. Don't publicly post anything you may use as a password: your birthdate, pet's name, mother's maiden name or your school. Identity thieves can use the information you post to guess your password.
8. If you use a wireless router, enable the encryption to scramble the data you send online.
9. Contact all three credit bureaus to put a freeze on your credit report so that accounts can't be opened without your knowledge. This may cost about $10 each.
Surprisingly, the restaurants provide greatest chance of credit card theft. Visa recently announced that 40% of all credit card theft occurs at dining locations.
"This is the one time that the card is taken away from you for processing. Restaurants are starting to take precautions because it is becoming a problem for their business," says Hardekopf. "Even though credit card issuers lost over $994 million to credit card fraud last year, they write this off as the cost of doing business and will probably not put in stronger security measures as long as the cost remains manageable. The consumer must protect himself."
TJX recently announced that 45 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen over an 18 month period. The latest Nilson Report says that fraud losses incurred by credit card issuers in 2006 reached an all-time high of $1.24 billion, up 9.3% from $1.14 billion in 2005. In a new Zogby Interactive Survey, 91% of those surveyed said they are concerned that their identity might be stolen and used to make unauthorized purchases.
According to the FTC, almost 10 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year and the average per victim is $4,800. Identity theft complaints to the FTC increased 18% from 215,177 in 2003 to 255,565 in 2005.
"Consumers can no longer assume that the odds are against identity theft or fraud happening to them," says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. "It is extremely important to be aware of the dangers and take every precaution to protect yourself."
Here are tips to protect your identity:
1. Every month, monitor your credit card band bank statements. If anything is incorrect, report it immediately.
2. Get a copy of your credit report. Each year, you can receive a free report from each of the three reporting agencies ( http://www.annualcreditreport.com ). Stagger these and get one every four months, so you can get a current idea of what is going on with your accounts. According to Transunion, 65% of consumers say they have never taken advantage of receiving a free credit report; an additional 16% check their credit reports less often than once a year.
3. Limit what you carry in your wallet to just the credit cards and identification that you must have. Clean receipts out of your wallet and car several times a week.
4. Shred these things: receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician
statements, bank checks and statements, expired charge cards, convenience checks and
credit offers you get in the mail.
5. Do not give out personal data for loyalty programs.
6. Mail anything with personal information or payment at the post office, not your mailbox.
7. Don't publicly post anything you may use as a password: your birthdate, pet's name, mother's maiden name or your school. Identity thieves can use the information you post to guess your password.
8. If you use a wireless router, enable the encryption to scramble the data you send online.
9. Contact all three credit bureaus to put a freeze on your credit report so that accounts can't be opened without your knowledge. This may cost about $10 each.
Surprisingly, the restaurants provide greatest chance of credit card theft. Visa recently announced that 40% of all credit card theft occurs at dining locations.
"This is the one time that the card is taken away from you for processing. Restaurants are starting to take precautions because it is becoming a problem for their business," says Hardekopf. "Even though credit card issuers lost over $994 million to credit card fraud last year, they write this off as the cost of doing business and will probably not put in stronger security measures as long as the cost remains manageable. The consumer must protect himself."
Posted by Lynn at
10:49 PM
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