Signs Of Identity Theft

The first sign of identity theft could be a change in your billing cycle. When your bills stop arriving on schedule, you need to find out why. Contrary to popular belief, not all the criminals working to steal your name and money use online identity theft. You need to be concerned when there's a change in your billing cycle.

Find out what's going on. Call the credit card company, the gas company and all the other companies whose bills are late. Keep in mind that bills are never sent out late. You should always be sure of your billing dates to lessen the possibility of identity theft victimization.

Contact the post office. You should let them know you feel you might have been the victim of identity theft through stolen mail. Offer a list of missing bills and let them know when the bill should have arrived at the post office.

In today's society, it pays to monitor your bills and statements. Now that consumers have the option of banking online, it's easier to keep an eye on anything irregular to see the immediate effects of online identity theft.

A more serious sign of identity theft could involve having your credit denied for a large purchase. The best way to minimize fallout from identity theft is to review your credit card and bank statements monthly and to check your credit report at least annually.

A more obvious sign of identity theft occurs with credit cards. Often, victims start getting statements for a credit card they didn't even know they had. There are charges on the card, too. If this is your situation, you've become the victim of identity theft. Place a fraud alert on your credit report right away. Next, complete a fraud affidavit and send it to the company that sent you the bill.

When Frank Abagnale trains law enforcement officers for the FBI's National Academy about identity theft, he asks agents for their addresses and nothing more. The next day, he returns with everything he would need to steal their lives: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, current salary, checking account numbers, the names of everyone in their family, and more. This illustrates how easy it is for anyone from anywhere in the world to assume our identity and, in a matter of hours, devastate our lives in ways that can take years to recover from. Considering the fact that a fresh victim is hit in the U.S. every four seconds, Stealing Your Life is the reference everyone needs, by an unsurpassed authority on the latest identity-theft schemes.

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