How Do I Avoid Identity Theft

I quickly called all of the 800 numbers listed on the backs of my debit and credit cards to report possible fraud and put a fraud alert on my accounts. I wasn't sure what to do next, but the woman on the phone from the bank debit company said I should file a police report and go to my bank branch the next day to talk to the manager about my account charges.

So I called the police, but they kind of gave me the run around, claiming they don't do these unless the card was physically stolen and whatever. I called the office manager at my work and took a sick day the next day and resolved to go to the police station directly first thing in the morning.

I did that, convinced someone to file a report so I could get the case number the lady said I would need and then I went to the bank. The manager was happy to sit with me and understood what had happened right away. After five minutes of looking through transactions on the screen, we pinpointed where the fraudulent charges had started: two days before, in an online purchase. After that, I had used the card one more time to purchase a few things at the grocery store and the rest of the charges were for non-local, mostly Internet-based purchases.

The bank manager was extremely helpful and found a few other details such as when the person had called the bank's national 800 number and attempted to change the password on my online banking account-something that the bank can only do at the local branch, in person, it turns out (to my relief)-- and another call to attempt to gain access to the account's balance sheet.

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The recovery process started right away. First, the bank canceled the card, put stop payments or claims on all of the charges made since I'd made my last purchase, and reinstated and closed my checking account. I opened a new one and did a few other details. This took most of the day, but the manager was happy to work with me on it. That afternoon, when it seemed like everything was squared away, a man named Matt came up to me at the bank. He was the bank's private investigator for fraud claims.

Since several thousand dollars were involved (my balance before this had been over $3,000 plus the $1,000 in overdraft protection), he was called in to see if they could find the thief and recover some of the money. The first thing he did was sit with me at a computer and ask me to find the website where I'd originally made my purchase.

I did so, but it took a minute since my transaction had actually been through an online auction site with the payment being paid through a private website from the seller. This is when Matt started talking in earnest about what had happened and pointing out several things I had never known before.

The site I had made the purchase through had no identification for security. No "https" at the beginning of the website address (which means it's through a secure connection), no "lock" symbol in the bottom corner of the browser (which means the secure connection is good), and no displays of fraud protection and third-party consumer verifications of the site (like from Thawte, the BBB Online, etc.). There was nothing on the site that showed it was protected in any way.

He did another quick look, which I hadn't seen before. He loaded another website (I think it was GoDaddy) and went to a link labeled "WhoIs?" He put in the website's address and it came up with a list of who owned the site. It didn't do much good, of course, since it was listed to a corporation whose name I couldn't pronounce that was located at a post box in Florida.

Matt noted that the corporate name didn't even come close to matching the website address. He told me that when he did the rest of his investigation on this clue, he'd probably find that this corporation owns a few dozen website addresses and they'll all probably look just like the one I was on. After a few days, they usually get shut down and the thieves will just make more.

The bottom line is this: know where you're buying from, who you're buying from, and whether they can be trusted. There is nothing wrong with purchasing online, but make sure a few simple things are in place before you put in that credit card number: the "https" at the head of the website address, the little lock symbol in the corner of your browser, and that the company is somehow verified or trusted with a reputable third-party, like the Better Business Bureau or Verisign/Thawte.

Finally, it's a good idea to look into fraud protection for your credit or debit cards through your bank, card provider, or a third party. They can be fairly inexpensive and extremely valuable. My debit card was the only thing affected by this thievery (though it was bad enough), but had my bank not used the fraud protection measures that they did, it could have been much, much worse.

I didn't get all of my money back. Since I didn't have full fraud protection, some of the merchants (who had legitimately sold product) wanted to fight the disputes. They still haven't caught the thieves and Matt is no longer on the cause, since it's not financially viable to continue. He did track down and get several of their websites closed, but that hardly stops them. He was frustrated, but it's the reality of how these things happen.

Hopefully, this little post has done some good and a few people will read this and learn from my mistake and not repeat it. Make sure that you're putting your card number into a site that has gone through the effort of proving themselves-showing that they're in legitimate business, not a front for crime.

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There are more types of ID theft but these are the main 3 types of identity theft which you need to be aware of and act upon.

Financial identity theft involves an imposter's use of personal identifying information to establish new credit lines, order telephone services, lease cars, rent apartments or take over checking accounts.

Criminal identity theft occurs when a criminal gives the victim's personal identifying information in place of their own identity to law enforcement. Arrest warrants can result for the identity theft victim.

Cloning Identity occurs when an imposter uses a victim's information to establish a new life. He or she actually lives and works as the victim.

Let's face it - we now spend a lot of time and money sat right here "at our computers" so it's not surprising that we are left wide open to ID theft. When was the last time that you cleared your computer history when you'd finished shopping online?

You can now remove all of your actions from your computer which will make it a LOT safer to shop on line

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1. Make sure you check your credit report often. You are entitled to get a detailed credit report from each consumer report company every 12 months, so be sure to take advantage of that to avoid identity theft.

2. Do not carry your social security card or number on your person or in your wallet. Keep this in a safe place at home, it's not something you need every day.

3. Do not use links in emails from companies you do not trust or know nothing about. It is better to just type in the website manually into your browser. Never give out personal information over the phone or in an email either.

4. When at an office or place of business where your personal information is needed, do not be afraid to ask them how that information will be protected and stored or if that information is really mandatory to have.

5. Never type in your credit card number or ANY personal information unless the website has the HTTPS:// before the website. The "S" is the webs way of keeping sites secure, it means that the site has a secure site certificate with encryption.

6. Shred or burn any credit card or bank documents before you throw them away. One of the biggest forms of identity theft is still because thieves go through your trash. It's just not worth the risk. Shred it up in pieces as small as possible.

7. Try not to use the same password for everything. I know it's easier to remember the same password for accessing your credit card and bank accounts online, but use a different one for each site, this also goes for your credit card PIN - you'd be surprised how many people change them to the same number so that they're easy to remember.

8. Never give out your passwords to anyone, even your own bank will never ask you for your passwords, if you get a phone call or email asking for usernames and passwords - DON'T give them out.

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