Fraud Alert defined
Now the question comes- What is fraud alert? Fraud alerts are those red-flags installed to your credit reports, so that as soon as any probable fraud is detected involving your account you will be notified.

How does a fraud alert protect my credit
After the beginning the fraud alert, if anyone tries applying for a new credit card or try to take a bank loan, or any other activity falling in the credit category, you will be asked to confirm whether the request is authorized. To know more about the entire procedure relating to a fraud alert read on.

How do I place a fraud alert
Firstly, place a call to each of the credit bureaus for activating the fraud alert. It is recommended that you call using your cell phone, as this will insure a constant communication and the creditors can reach you anytime. There you request them to activate the fraud alert service and this will be done within the next 24 hours. Following, you will receive a confirmation mail about the successful activation. Additionally, for the protection of your account, services like credit and insurance offers that come in your junk mail, with be terminated for the next two years after you request fraud alert.

Be sure to renew every three months
The fraud alerts on your account will then be turned on for the next three months. It does not possess the nature of getting renewed by itself, so it will be turned into off mode automatically after the completion of three months. Furthermore, if you find yourself wanting to apply it for another three months, you will need to request the credit bureaus again for activation. Bear in mind that this needs to be done after every three months, so that the fraud alert remains flagged.

Credit protection services offer even more protection
If all this sounds like more than you want to tackle or keep up with, then you may wish to try one of the  protection services like TrustedID, Lifelock, or Debix- the three top rated identity protection companies. Being their clients, you not only gain advantage from the automatic renewal of fraud alerts, but you will also have the 24/7 monitoring services. They monitor individual credit reports, and notify of any dubious acts, as well as if unnatural activity is undergoing your account.

Fraud alerts do not protect all accounts
Fraud alerts definitely sound like an incredible idea, but wait there are a few cons involved.

Fraud alerts are solely applicable to new account, meaning that accounts opened before the fraud alert are unprotected. This also means that your bank information and other credit cards also need to be monitored.

While there are some negatives to renewing the fraud alerts every three months, a bad account may stay on your credit report for up to seven years.  Be sure to inform the credit bureau that you are placing the fraud alert for protection.  This will inform them that you are monitoring your credit situation.

The first factor to keep in mind when it comes passwords you are using online is to make sure you create effective passwords in the first instance.  In other words, you need to make certain that you craft passwords in the first instance that will do the job.  You need to make sure that passwords you create are appropriately complex to prevent easy cracking by someone intent on identity theft.

The next factor that you need to pay attention to when it comes to identity theft and passwords is to make sure that you do not actually store your passwords on your computer itself.  This is the case whether you use a desktop computer or a laptop.  The fact is that a person intent on identity theft (including people in the workplace) can lift password information off of your computer.

You do not want to use the same password for all of your accounts.  This is precisely what many people do, however.  If you take this approach and use the same password for everything you really are giving a person intent on committing identity theft the “key to the kingdom.”  By not using different passwords for all of your accounts you will permit a person intent on stealing your identity the ability to access all of your accounts easily.

Another factor to keep in mind in regard to password protection, identity theft and the Internet is to change your passwords with a considerable degree of regularity.  Of course, many people never bother to change their passwords.  However, you are best protected by changing your passwords with regularity in order to ensure that you are developing the best line of protection for these codes.

By paying attention to these factors you will be in best position to have effective passwords.  With effective passwords you will be able to better protect yourself against the threat of identity theft.  You will be able to use and access accounts online in a much safer and secure fashion.

This really occurs mostly with the younger generation that use these social networking sites as a way of meeting new people and communicating with their friends. On signing up to these sites, they are asked to provide names, addresses, contact telephone numbers, dates of birth and schools they attended. This sort of information is being viewed by people that are viewing their profiles, and only a few of the sites have a scheme where your profile cannot be viewed unless you specifically add them as a friend. Many of the users of the sites add other users as friends with no real idea who they are. That is the worst thing about the internet, it allows you to be who you want to be and come up with characters.

Think of the ways that these social networking sites can be used as a focus for identity theft. The majority of the users post their birth date and this is a question commonly asked by banks to determine a person’s identity. Combined with the full name and also things like pet names, Mother’s maiden name and other such information, it doesn’t take a genius to work out the rest. Not only can information be stolen this way, but names can be searched on internet search engines and information can be found that way. A person could also try to be added to your friends list, without you actually knowing who they are and discreetly ask questions in conversations, such as home address, and other personal information that can be used to perform identity theft.

This carefree attitude to private details not only puts the users of the sites at risk, but also the people that they live with are put wide open to the risk of identity theft. If a child or young person gives away personal information over the internet on these social networking sites, their parents or guardians are at an increased risk of identity theft. A few carefully asked questions, randomly dropped into conversation are encouraging the users of these sites to give away details that they wouldn’t normally give away. What’s your Dad’s name? Where do you live? When’s your birthday? How old are you? A pattern emerges. These are questions that could commonly be seen as friendly conversation, but can very often lead to the exchange of details that could potentially be used in the cases of identity theft.

The unbelievable thing is that many of these sites have been under scrutiny in the media for the public access of personal information, but still it goes on. More and more people are signing up under recommendation of their friends and family meaning that thousands, sometimes millions, of people are left wide open to the risks that identity thieves that may be operating can pose.

Pretexting is basically the art of lying. A person will conjure up an imaginary situation or scenario and use it to trick people out of their personal details or to participate in a certain act. The most common forms of this type of identity theft is done over the phone.

When a well known company phones you up, for example, a representative of a bank or credit card company, they will use personal information to allow you to know not only who they are, but also to prove that they are speaking to the right individual. Pretexting will work in exactly the same way. A person will find out information about you, prior to the phone call, or house visit, and then use it against you so that you believe they are a person of authority and from a legitimate company with a legitimate reason to ask you personal questions about your private details. This misconception will then allow you to divulge other information that you would normally only give to the people in the bank, as one example.

The person who is performing the art of pretexting will then use the details you have supplied to perform crimes related to identity theft – applying for loans or credit cards in your name and then stealing the successful applications from your mailbox before it reaches you. This is just one example of how that information can be used. It can be used for applying for passports and other official documents to be used in the act of illegal immigration, and also in terrorism and maybe even blackmail, against you, the identity holder.

Pretexters will impersonate anyone, from colleagues from your place of work, police officers, insurance company personnel, and also may pretend to be someone from banks, loan and credit card companies, the list goes on and on. How many times have you divulged information over the phone to someone who you believed had a legitimate reason to know the information? The chances are, it was a real person from a real company, and they weren’t pretexters, but in reality, how can you be so sure?

There are no definite answers on how to prevent this from happening, apart from – never give your personal details out over the phone or to someone that visits your home. Always go to the branch of your bank to sort out any problems, or phone the number back yourself to ensure you are actually phoning the right people, and not giving out details about yourself to just anyone! Just always be on your guard and if you don’t think it is real, don’t tell them anything!

The rise of identity theft can also be attributed as a bad side effect of the internet. Due to the fact that as long as you have correct information anyone can use your account to buy products, transfer/pay accounts and access online credit information.

This has become a serious problem and a lot of people have been badly affected by it. Some people still cannot get new credit lines since they are being questioned about their identities. Other people lost their jobs and credibility due to felonies charged against their names.

Most of these individuals have been questioned by the police and are in constant contact with the authorities to clear their name. Most of them are innocent, but due to the sensitivity of the crimes and financial setbacks, most of them are kept for questioning.

Some even until two years and the damage to their lives has been immense.

In 2006 a census survey consisting of 44 questions has been conducted to know how identity theft has affected their lives. It also surveyed how identity theft happened and its diverse effects on people.

According to the survey, the sources of stolen information between 2003 and 2006 came from information theft via the internet (phising), lost and stolen wallets, and the workplace and home/car robberies.

Another shocking part that contributes to the rise of identity theft is that most of the respondent is victimized by people who have access to their information these include family, friends and colleagues.

Most of the felons who victimized people have committed other crimes, experiencing financial problems and addictions. These people are the ones desperate enough to steal personal information and risk getting caught using them.

Two-thirds of the 2006 respondents also noted that their information has been used to open new credit lines, 29% for new cable/utility and another 27% reported that the felon made charges to the victim’s existing credit card accounts.

The actual Costs to the Victims averaged around $1,884 dollars for out-of-pocket expense for travel, childcare, postage, purchasing police and court records and childcare

The biggest problem for these people though is the inability to clear negative records. They cannot be cleared to get credit and other essential needs due to the fact that their negative information remains on their report.

Most of the reasons stated that Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) kept putting inaccurate information back on the report (43%), credit agencies refuse to remove it (39%) and fraud alerts were ignored (30%).

It should be noted that there was a sharp increase in victims (24%) who stated that they were unable to get a police report, more than doubling from 2004’s study.

This figure is still increasing each year and this is why we must be more vigilant in protecting our identities by learning about identity theft prevention and consistently checking our credit and identity reports and informing the authorities about any kind of odd discrepancy in our records. 

Protect your identity from thieves with LifeLock identity theft protection service.