Identity Theft - Protect Yourself and your Credit

With all the applications we fill out for credit and financing, it is so important to know who you're dealing with.

Here is part of an article from this month's TrueCredit Newsletter:

"many US taxpayers couldn’t wait to receive an additional refund check this past spring. Some unlucky taxpayers received an email, supposedly from the Internal Revenue Service, telling them to click a link and fill out a form to receive a direct deposited "2008 Economic Stimulus Refund." However, taxpayers who had already filed their 2007 returns didn’t have to do anything additional to get a stimulus payment or have it directly deposited. The only ones who would’ve gotten those direct deposits were the identity thieves!

Stay out of “phishing” nets
You think it's tough to keep up with technology? Why does it often seem like criminals have cornered the market on technology skills? Email fraud – or “phishing”– occurs when fraudulent email messages and websites look like those of legitimate businesses, such as a bank, credit card company, online retailer or government agency. Complete with company logos and branding, these emails are genuine enough to fool consumers and go to thousands of people at once to “phish" for personal information.

Generally asking consumers to update or validate personal information, often applying pressure, the emails threaten to close the accounts of those who don’t respond quickly. Alternately, the emails offer to reward those who respond, or claim that verifying identifying details will help protect the consumer from identity fraud. Consumers who click the links are taken to a fraudulent website where they're asked to give personal information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers or online banking passwords.

Here's how to protect yourself

*If your mother never told you not to give out your Social Security number over the internet or over the phone, trust us, she would've—if she'd known about identity theft. Unless you’re the one who initiated the contact and are sure it's safe, or that an internet site is secure, it's best not to reveal personal data on the phone or online.

*To determine that a site is secure, look for “https://” rather than just “http://” in the address bar of your Web browser as well as a closed padlock in the bottom right corner of your browser.

*Another precaution when responding to an email from companies you do business with is to go directly to the business site independently by using a search engine and typing in the URL.

*Check the link in the email. If you click it and it does not match the name that appears in the browser at the top of the screen, it may be a fraudulent website.

*While some fraudulent emails may look professional at a quick glance, if you look more closely, you may notice spelling and grammatical errors, unusual language or branding that isn’t quite right.

*If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. An email notifying you that you’re about to receive an email money transfer from someone you’ve never heard of is likely fraudulent. Delete it.

*Practice a healthy degree of skepticism. Fraudulent emails may appear to come from a real bank or credit card company. But if you have doubts, contact that business before responding. Don’t use any of the contact information provided in the email; it may take you to the criminals rather than the bank.

*I’ve told you this before, but good advice is worth repeating: be sure to review your bank and credit card statements regularly to ensure that all transactions are authorized. And that includes checking your credit report regularly, a key place where you can detect possible evidence of identity fraud.

*Protect your home computer. Install anti-spam, anti-spyware and anti-virus software and keep them updated. You should also install a personal firewall as a barrier against viruses and other external attacks. Check for operating system patches and upgrades on a regular basis.

If you receive a phishing email pretending to be from a bank that asks for personal or financial information, report it to the actual bank and delete it. "