ID Theft Protection: Are You Doing Enough?
You may think you’re keeping yourself from harm’s reach by trashing SPAM and watching your bank account.
But identity theft experts say ID defrauders are smarter than ever about getting what they want—even from savvy citizens.
Find out the steps identity thieves take to steal information…and your best defense against each one.
ID Thieves Know Their Target
Today’s “evolved” techno-thief has studied his target and knows exactly what to do to finagle information from a very targeted victim (for example, baby boomers, recent college graduates or single parents). The days of red-eyed hackers weeding through thousands of pieces of data in cyberspace seem to be gone, or at least dwindling—they’re being replaced with theft software (that’s right) that searches for a specific demographic.
That means phishy emails (where the defrauder poses as a legitimate entity in order to “fish” for information) aren’t as easy to detect. Crooks pose as credit card companies, your bank—even, amazingly, the IRS. And their hookups are developing email letterhead and official-looking software daily that looks more and more like the real thing.
YOUR BEST DEFENSE: Never…and we do mean never!…respond to an e-mail that states it needs your personal information, such as your date of birth, account number, Social Security number of your mother’s maiden name, even if the entity appears to be a company you do business with. Instead, look up the actual phone number and place a call to see whether the email is legitimate. Chances are it’s a fake (a bank or credit card company will never ask you to reveal highly personal information via e-mail).
If the company does say changes to your account need to be made, visit the office if it’s local and make your updates there rather than over the phone.
ID Thieves are Watching When You’re Not
Smart consumers tally their financial account transactions once a month, or whenever a statement arrives in the mail or is updated online.
It’s a wise move, but it may not be enough, identity theft experts say, because there’s no way to know if and when a thief may be sneaking a peak at your personal data. In the worst case scenario, a crook may have stolen your information and secured loans or made outrageous purchases in your name as many as 30 days or even more before you get wind of the problem.
YOUR BEST DEFENSE: Daily responsibilities, such as your job, keep you from being able to monitor your own credit and debit card transactions daily. On the other hand, that’s just what credit monitoring services do. And a credit monitoring service never sleeps on the job or misses a day of work.
We can’t stress this enough: get a great credit monitoring service on your side. Don’t spend a bundle; look for an economical and savvy program that suits your needs (you can start your search here for comparisons).
ID Spend Time Brushing Up on Their Skills
Your life is busy; you don’t have time to continuously stay one up on all the latest data on scams, data breaches, online thefts and the technical aspects of each. However, for an ID thief, that’s his (or her) job. Con artists, scammers and hackers spend many hours and a lot of energy on developing newer and more efficient ways to work their way into your wallet.
To make matters even more difficult, while some defrauders are worming their way around the internet, others fall back to “traditional” information theft methods…even dumpster diving for credit card offers or discarded medical bills.
YOUR BEST DEFENSE: Get educated. Know the various ways an ID thief may attempt to unlock the keys to your personal history and present. Combine practical safety measures with continuous credit monitoring, and your chances are better than ever of being one less mark on a defrauder’s victims list.
