Protecting Your Identity
by MarketProSecure
Identity theft is a growing problem; costing billions of pounds every year because people don't believe it can happen to them and fail to take simple precautions to protect themselves. Common sense dictates you should not make it easy for criminals to steal your identity and use it to gain access to your bank accounts, get cash, make purchases or set up credit and other agreements using your name.
Until recently the television presenter Jeremy Clarkson was such a confirmed doubter of the risk involved in revealing sensitive personal information that he published his bank account and sort code details in a newspaper article. He was surprised to find someone, who wanted to make a point that is of value to all of us, had set up a monthly £500.00 Direct Debit on his account, payable to a charity.
Taking these steps will go some way towards helping you prevent your identity being used fraudulently.
- Never give sensitive personal information such as bank account details to people you don't know.
- Do not reveal such information when it is requested online or in the post. Even if the enquiry appears to be coming from a legitimate source it may not. It is very easy to create a letterhead, e-mail or website that looks like that of your bank, utility company or other service provider. If in doubt check with the organisation directly by other means.
- Never give anyone else your pin numbers or passwords and don't store this information on a mobile phone. Memorise it.
- Always shred documents such as utility bills, bank, credit card and other account statements, before disposing of them.
The most important thing you can do is check bank and credit card statements thoroughly when you receive them, and monitor your credit report. Many people who have had their identity used by fraudsters don't realise it has happened for some time afterwards. They suddenly realise money has gone missing from their accounts or receive loan default correspondence from lenders they have not approached for loans.
Everyone who has borrowed has a credit report and your credit history is there to be checked by any organisation you approach for a loan. You can also have access to your credit report and monitor it online. This allows you to make sure it is accurate and up to date, and also see and deal with any attempts at fraud should they arise.
CreditExpert from Experian offers a 30-day free trial of its credit report service so you can see the information held about you and decide whether protecting yourself from the potential damage to your finances and reputation caused by Identity Theft is worth a small monthly fee.
Published: January 12, 2008
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