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How many of you have received emails from your supposed bank prompting you to give them personal information in order to restore access to one of your accounts? How about a message from Paypal letting you know that someone has accessed your account and that you need to reenter your password to authenticate? If you have, you are not alone. These are not legit emails and are instead phishing schemes designed to aid identity thieves in stealing your identity. While more and more people are becoming away of what phishing is and how to protect against phishing, identity thieves are finding new ways to trick you into handing over your personal information.

Phishing

One way that you can protect against phishing is to call the bank or institution that supposedly send you the email and verify that the claims is indeed correct. Banks tell you that they will never ask for personal information over email, so this quick call can protect your identity. If for some reason the bank did email you, then you should visit the local branch in person rather than disclosing your personal information over email correspondence.

But what if you receive an email from your bank asking you to call them back? You may think this is safe and actually call back the number provided in the email. However, this is another phishing scam that identity thieves use to trick consumers. Phishers know that more and more people are becoming aware of phishing schemes and therefore attempt to trick them by making them think its safe to call a phone number. However, the phone number provided in the email is actually the number that the phisher controls and not the number to your bank. They will most likely answer the phone with ‘Thank you for calling [insert bank name here]. How may I help you?’ and then proceed to swindle you out of your personal and banking information.

So what can you do to protect yourself from phishing attacks? We advise you to never call numbers sent in an email especially if its an email that relates to your personal or financial history. If you do receive an email from a bank or credit card company asking for a call, call the number in the phone book or the one listed on the back of your credit card. This will ensure that you are actually talking to the bank and not a phishing identity thief looking to rob you of your identity!

If you do ever fall victim of phishing or identity theft, we recommend that you purchase an identity theft protection package and take the steps necessary to rebuild your financial life. Identity theft and phishing are both serious crimes and the best way to protect yourself is by being informed!

While browsing up on some of the latest posts over the Get Rich Slowly blog, I came across this post where JD (the blog’s author) talks about a recent theft of his mail and possible identity theft concerns.

Some of JD’s suggestions with dealing with Identity Theft include The 3 Ds:

Deter
The first step is to deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information.

…

Detect
Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements. Be alert to signs that require immediate attention.

…

Regularly inspect your credit report. Credit reports contain information about you, including what accounts you have and your bill paying history.

The law requires each of the three major nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to give you a free copy of your credit report every year. But you have to ask for it.

Defend
If you suspect that you may have been (or may become) a victim of identity theft, you can file a “fraud alert” on your credit reports.

Placing a fraud alert entitles you to free copies of your credit reports. Look for inquiries from companies you haven’t contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain.

Read the Rest of JD’s Article Here

This just goes to show you that Identity Theft can happen to anyone, even those who are knowledgeable about it and the ways to stop identity theft.

If you are worried about becoming a victim of Identity Theft yourself, be sure to get a copy of your free annual credit report to ensure that all of your information is accurate and free of errors.

Credit Monitoring Services

In the US, millions of people fall prey to identity theft crimes each year. In fact, nearly 10 million Americans are a victim of identity theft crimes committed, but nearly half of those victims either realize that they are victims are have realized it too late. There are many credit monitoring products on the market in today’s era and there are companies out there who claim that they will monitor your credit score, free annual credit report, and they will even alert you if anything major happens that is suspicious activity. These companies actually do a lot of business throughout the year and they prevent many identity theft and errors to credit reports every day.

However, is credit monitoring necessary and are those who are paying for it truly benefiting from the company monitoring their credit report and credit score each day or is it simply not necessary to have these luxuries? Many people who have used these types of credit monitoring services will actually tell you that there is nothing better than feeling safe that you are protected from the identity theft cases that happen each year. But let’s look at the reasons that you may want to get credit monitoring services and the reasons that you may not need it.

1. The very first thing that you should consider, and perhaps the most obvious one, is that you may be safer with credit monitoring services. When individuals fall prey to identity theft crimes sometimes the crime goes unnoticed for a year or more at a time. These are the individuals who are at a loss. Credit card and other credit line companies will sometimes have no recourse for those individuals who have been a victim simply because they let it go for more than a year at a time! But those who have credit monitoring and error prevention companies checking on their credit report daily will more than likely catch the damage in time!

2. Another thing that you should consider when thinking about obtaining credit monitoring services is whether or not you’ll like having someone else or some other company scrutinizing your credit report on a daily basis. Many people prefer to look at their credit reports themselves, and for those people credit monitoring services are simply not needed! Also, who is to say that the credit monitoring companies will know if you are the one who made a change to your credit report or if it was someone else. For the sake of being completely and 100% protected against identity theft crimes, the absolute best thing to do would be to look at your credit report by yourself!

Altogether, whether you obtain credit monitoring services that detect errors and identity theft crimes in your credit report is a matter of choice and no one should force you into the decision! There are many positive aspects about these types of companies, but some of the downsides with these types of services are also very evident! There is simply no fool-proof way to prevent identity theft crimes without being very cautious; the most a credit monitoring agency could do is to alert you to the situation and stop the crime in its tracks, but you are equally capable of doing just that!

The best way to stay on top of your credit report is by checking it frequently. At Free Annual Credit Reports, we give you instant access to your free annual credit report and credit score.