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 credit 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 will 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!

The issue of identity theft is not limited to one country or region it is a global issue and collective efforts should be made to resolve this particular issue. Nowadays, identity theft is like a hot potato for all companies. The fact that negligence may result in lawsuits makes companies even skeptical about online business. However, it is not possible to conduct business without collecting the financial information of customers. But, companies can always take some steps to stay away from lawsuits after losing personal information of their customers.

Following are few of the important steps and points that can help companies to deal with the issue of security theft in a much better way.

• The first important thing is to collect as much personal information as you need. Plus, the information must not be retained for a time period longer than required. After obtaining the PI (personal information) it is important to dispose it of in a better way. Pay attention to local laws and educate yourself about the collection and retention of PI.

• When offering your services, you need to check if it is extremely important to collect all types of information or not. Many companies offer services without asking for address, phone numbers, birth dates and driver license number.

• It is extremely important for companies to determine employees who are eligible to access personal information of customers. It has been found in many cases that identity theft have taken place because of employees. So, these internal security threats should also be taken into consideration to avoid security threat.

• For record retention, you must pay attention to legal requirement as this would help you to stay away from any trouble caused by identity theft victim. In this regard, it is better to consult with HIPAA retention guidelines, IRS regulations, Fair Labor Standards Act, State and Local Regulations and Industry Requirements.

• You must use right security solutions to ensure high level of security in your company. For this particular reason, it is important to use information security programs, information security policies, standards and procedures. You must also make sure that you have incident response plans. Finally, it is crucial to go for periodic risk assessment.

• Paying more attention to identity protection management can always help you to avoid legal prosecutions. For better management, you must opt for authentication controls, passwords, biometrics, and lock-out settings. Other methods can also be used in this regard to get better results.

These are few of the extremely important points to keep in mind when collecting personal information of customers. You must never forget that you can lose a lot if a customer takes you in court for breach of contract. So, always make sure that your company provides top-notch security to its customers otherwise it would be impossible to survive in this world where sophisticated technologies are available for con artists to obtain personal information.

Such incidents happen on consistent basis in the world of internet. But, the regular occurrence of these incidents doesn’t quality to the fact that you must bag the idea of buying over the internet. You must shop from online stores to your heart’s content but you must never forget that the credit card fraud is one of the most popular global crimes. Even though the credit card fraud is common but you can always save yourself from becoming a victim of credit card fraud and identity theft by taking precautions. In fact, keying in your card information on an encrypted website is safer than most other ways of shopping.

There was a time when people were not aware of online identity theft but they got familiar with it when many companies started the patchwork. Today, identity theft have become quite common but you can still take some steps to keep your self out of the list of those people who lost their credit card information in a credit card fraud. Following are few of the important points to keep in mind to use internet without worrying about credit card fraud and identity theft.

• The most important thing is to shop from right sites. Never enter your credit card details to an unencrypted page otherwise your information would be gone in a split second.

• Build a habit of getting in touch with your bank officials to know the condition of your credit card. Many people don’t collect information about their credit cards for long time and get a shock of their life when find that their credit card is being used by someone else.

• If you receive an email from your credit card company asking for specific information, you will be better off discarding it. Always keep in mind that companies don’t ask for financial information in emails. Even if you are curious to know the reason behind an email, it is better to make a phone call in their office to talk over the whole thing.

• Spend some time over the internet to educate yourself about the ways being used by identity thieves to steal your credit card and other personal information. Awareness is extremely important to fight with identity theft.

The fact of the matter is that fighting with identity theft and credit card fraud is not an easy job. You need to educate yourself about the whole process of identity theft and identity protection. Along with educating yourself, you need to be vigilant enough to identify a credit card fraud. Just keep aforementioned points in mind and you will always be able to stay away from falling prey to the trap set by these con artists.

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. Identity theft protection must be practice and fraud alert is just one of the few steps you can take.