LifeLock offers automatic opt-out from pre-approved credit card offers.  This will prevent identity thieves who steal a persons personal information from the dumpster or the person’s own mail box from getting credit cards in your name.  In addition it also helps to reduce the amount of junk maker that you have to contend with.

As long as you stay enrolled in LifeLock they will place fraud alerts on your credit repot.  Normally fraud alerts expire in ninety days but LifeLock will continue to renew these fraud alerts for you.  Some of their other benefits included:

• Helping you to retrieve the contents of a stolen or lost wallet.
• Change of address alerts to help prevent mail identity theft.
• Continual online patrolling so they can immediately catch the sale of any of your personal information
• One million dollars to help offset the cost of identity theft if you become a victim of identity theft while you are enrolled and the theft is because of a failure or defect in their services.

LifeLock also offers proactive protection, credit alerts, non-credit alerts, and advanced internet monitoring.  You can also access their member’s services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and three hundred sixty-five days a year.

Once you have filed a claim and it has been verified LifeLock will help you with the recovery by:

• Providing their members with a dedicated resolution specialist who will serve as your single point of contact plus access to their toll free resolution line.
• A third party recovery expert and your resolution specialist will do a case assessment.
• You will also know what to expect during the recovery period and will receive a total explanation of your rights.
• You will get step-by-step instructions on how to handle the actions that the law requires you to take such as filing police reports.
• After your case has been resolved you will receive a follow-up call to make sure that your identity has been recovered to your satisfaction.

How well do you recognize email scams?

The first type of email scam belongs to the ‘something for nothing’ category. This is the most common of all email scams and unfortunately, it shows no sign of stopping, simply because these types of emails offer instant wealth for practically nothing. It usually involves someone unknown to you emailing you from another country, offering to hand you a huge sum of money for simply cashing a check they send you, and then sending some of that money back to them.

So….anytime you get a mail like the one described above, you know what to do – delete it immediately!

Another way to identify an email scam is when you get a ‘lottery winning notice.’ Do not get caught into the scammer’s trap. Because, the reality is that you haven’t won anything. If you go ahead and cash a ‘lottery check’ from these guys and then send back their share, and the bank discovers it was a fake….well, you’ll be in hot water, because you owe the bank the entire amount.

That’s why you need to avoid all ‘lottery winning notice’ emails like the plague!

Yet another way of recognizing an email scam, is 1) if the sender requests your private information, such as credit card and bank account numbers, or 2) if they ask you to click on a link in the email that’ll lead you to their website. Often times, the info what the link displays and the info you find on the website is totally different. This is because the website is actually a fake one designed with purpose in mind – to steal your personal information.

HINT: 98% of email scams contain an awful lot of grammatical errors. This is often a dead giveaway, so if you receive emails that seem suspicious, and are filled with spelling errors, it might be a good idea to hit that delete button!

How can I report an email scam?
Well, for starters, you can get in touch with the FBI’s IC3, otherwise known as the Internet Crime Complaint Center. You could easily fill out a form to report all sorts of online-related crimes, and you can also sign up to receive updates when new scams are reported, on the FBI’s website.

Another way to report an email scam is to directly contact companies that may have been entangled in the scam. To elaborate, if you happen to receive a suspicious email from a person claiming to be Best Buy, you can log onto their website and file in a report.

There are also special email addresses where you can forward all of the suspicious emails you receive. One of them is the FTC’s email address, which is spam@uce.gov.

How do I protect myself from an email scam?

• Never ever give out personal information via email to strangers.
• Do not click on any links inside an email if you’re not sure of the identity of the sender.
• Don’t event think about replying to an email that seems suspicious.
• Finally, you might want to sign up for an identity theft service, for eg. LifeLock.

OK, that’s a wrap for this article! Keep in mind all of the above tips and you’ll be safe from unscrupulous email scams!

Identity theft remains one of the most serious, significant and commonly committed crimes in many countries around the world today.  With that in mind, it is important for you to take all appropriate steps to protect yourself from identity theft.  One line of defense that you will want to employ when it comes to identity theft in this day and age is engaging the services of LifeLock.  Through this article you are provided an overview of how LifeLock works to prevent identity theft.At the heart of the LifeLock plan is a guarantee from that company that it absolutely will protect your identity, will protect your financial and personal information.  The company maintains that it will provide you this comprehensive protection for a small fee each month.  At the present time, LifeLock is advertising that the fee it will charge you for its protective services if $10.00 per month.  LifeLock backs up this pledge through its service guarantee of up to $1,000,000.

LifeLock does take some steps that you can do for yourself.  However, these steps that you can take are time consuming.  And, if you miss a step, you will not have fully protected yourself against identity theft.

In this regard, LifeLock works to have alerts placed with the three major credit reporting agencies. These alerts work to provide you immediate notification if anyone attempts to open up an account in your name, an account that you did not authorize.  In addition, LifeLock assists you with monitoring your credit reports throughout the course of any given year.

If for some reason someone is able to pierce through the line of defense that LifeLock has put in place for you – and for your identity – it will take all steps necessary to “clean up” any problems that may have resulted because of the attempt at identity theft.  In other words, LifeLock will work to get your credit report back in order following an attempt at identity theft and, as part of its guarantee, will reimburse you for any actual losses up to the $1,000,000 level set forth in its guarantee.

LifeLock also assists with other issues that oftentimes leave openings for identity theft.  This includes eliminating the free credit card offers that you very well may be receiving on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many identity thieves get a hold of these offers and are able to open up fraudulent accounts at your expense.

LifeLock makes an important point in marketing its identity protection services.  As was noted, while you do have the ability to take some of the steps that LifeLock will take on your behalf, these steps can be challenging and time consuming.  In a similar vein, you likely have the ability to change the oil in your car.  However, if you are like a majority of people, you trust this task to a garage or service center.  In the end, if you let someone else deal with changing your oil, you really may want to look closely at letting professionals protect your identity, for your own credit protection the professionals at LifeLock.

Come April 12, Lifelock will be featured on Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” television program. In this episode, the remaining celebrity contestants which include Andrew Dice Clay, Dennis Rodman, Melissa and Joan Rivers, will be asked to design a new Lifelock retail package and point of purchase display. The teams’ presentations will be judged by Todd Davis, LifeLock CEO who’s famous for displaying his Social Security Number on the net, on TV and in billboards.
Some see it as LifeLock’s attempt to do a little marketing. But whatever the reason is, Donald Trump made the right thing when he decided to feature Lifelock because it will improve awareness. Identity theft has now surpassed drug trafficking as the number one crime in the country, unless the right precautions are taken, the situation has the potential to become a lot worst.
It’s very beneficial that companies like Lifelock were able to come up with innovative systems that protect your personal information and prevent thieves from using your data. It is not surprising that the company is gaining popularity among those who had already been informed of the service. Right now, the country is suffering from economic crisis. Companies like Lifelock can help make the situation easier for you by eliminating harmful risks in your personal and family life.

The reality is that once you have discovered that you have been the victim of identity theft you must contact the three major credit reporting agencies.  The first step that these agencies will take is to put a fraud alert on your credit report so that no further fraudulent transactions can occur involving your accounts and your credit report.

After you have taken the immediate action that need to be undertaken in the aftermath of identity theft, you then need to file specific reports with each agency pertaining to the erroneous information an individual credit report.  Normally this takes the form of an affidavit on which you assert that a particular entry or entries within a credit report are the result of you having been the victim of identity theft.

While it can take some time for the incorrect entries to be corrected and removed from a credit report, when it is done you will be able to see an improvement in your overall credit report and credit score.  You will be able to get your credit report back into the position that it would be in had you not been the victim of identity theft.  Obviously, you necessarily desire to get your credit report back in the position that it should have been in had you not had to face the prospect of identity theft.

You do need to keep in mind that you need to be persistent when it comes to cleaning up and correcting your credit report following having been the victim of identity theft.  While it is regrettable, there are instances in which reports filed in the aftermath of identity theft can fall through the cracks.  However, by staying on top of the situation you will be able to ensure that your own credit report with each of the agencies gets corrected and cleaned up as soon as possible. Proactive credit protection should be practice in preventing Identity theft.