Who are these people? How can you safeguard yourself, your significant other and your children from being an identity theft victim?
What identity theft preventative measures can you take to make sure that you and your families’ information is secured?
The reason for this article is to answer these questions and make you fully aware of habits that you have probably developed that you will need to change to lower your chances of being a victim.
I was truly astonished when I started to research identity theft reports by Javelin Strategy and Research. Did you know?
More than 791 million identities were stolen in the US in 2016.
The total fraud amount was $16 Billion.
15.4 million US fraud victims in 2016.
A number of reported identity thefts increased over 37% from the year 2014 to the year 2016.
30 to 59-year-olds were a prime target for this type of crime. They are also the slowest to detect that they have become a victim.
These numbers are staggering and yet the FBI still doesn’t have a clear direction on how to stop or even slow this epidemic down. However, it’s always the general users who need to be the first responders in any such situations. Other than depending on any identity theft protection companies, we can also protect follow some preventative measures to keep away cyber crooks from our precious data. Here are six preventative measures that will tell you how to protect against identity theft without using best identity theft protection software: –
Identity theft thieves will steal your identity by rummaging through your trash, so make sure you invest in a Shredder so that you can shred all unwanted mail or documents.
Also, use your credit and debit cards at retail outlets that you are comfortable with because thieves will use storage devices when processing your card to steal your credit or debit card number.
Use an updated anti-virus on your computers and change your username and password regularly. It helps in identity theft monitoring and takes you a step closer towards identity theft protection.
Retrieve your mail every day; don’t leave mail in your mailbox. Once thieves get your mail they can divert your bank statements to another address.
Beware of companies that may call and request your personal information. Sometimes you might even get an email from a company that claims to be your bank stating that they need to update your information. Do Not Fall Prey To This.
Be careful about where you leave your personal information and belonging at work, things like purses, wallets, handbags or briefcase. Remember identity theft thieves are everywhere; sometimes they are your closest friends, significant other, work associates or even your family members. It was also found out in the research that many identity theft crimes were done by people who are known to victims.
If we all get identity theft protection, this terrible crime will start to become more controllable. So many of you do not believe you will ever be a victim and that is the reason why identity theft has grown to such a huge epidemic.
You don’t have to believe me just pick up the papers, search the internet and there are horror stories everywhere from credit identity theft, medical Insurance id theft, drivers license, and the list go on.
Would you want to be rushed to the hospital for a blood transfusion and because your identity was used by someone else you get the wrong blood type? This how serious this is Folks. Get Protected.
It is great to monitor your credit but you also need protection that will help you restore your credit and the credit of your loved ones if there is a problem and save you lots of time from work and money trying to correct the problem yourself.
There is no guarantee that you will not become a victim but I am sure that if you take these six precautions, you will definitely lower your risk of becoming a victim and take you a step closer towards identity theft prevention. For exhaustive protection against identity theft, use Advanced Identity Protector, the best identity theft protection service.
It scans your entire PC hard drive and browsers to find identity traces if any. It then allows you to store and encrypt the precious data on your computer. Download Advanced Identity Protector from here.