Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft

01/18/15

Protecting Yourself from Identity theft.

In today's high tech environment Identity Theft has reached epidemic proportions. According to the California State Department of Justice, "there were 13.1 million U.S. adult victims in 2013, or nearly one victim every two seconds. That figure represents 5.5% of U.S. adults, including over a 1.6 million Californians. The number of victims increased from 12.6 million in 2012." (1.)

Identity Theft comes in many forms: criminals can use your personal information to open credit card accounts, utility accounts, make large purchases such as automobiles or even steal your tax returns. Once your identity has been stolen it can be extremely difficult to prove the accounts are fraudulent, eliminate the debts and clean up your credit report.

The best way to avoid Identity Theft is to protect your personal information before a theft occurs. Thieves can be very creative in the ways they obtain the personal information of unsuspecting victims. Information including names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers can be stolen from personal computers, tablets, cell phones, emails and text messages. The same information can be gathered from personal and business trash cans. In addition, thieves pretend to be legitimate businesses using emails and phone calls to trick unsuspecting victims into providing personal information.

What are some of the signs of Identity Theft?

1. Unusual charges or debits on your credit or debit cards.

2. Unexplained withdraws from your bank account.

3. A Notice from the IRS that a tax return has been filed using your social security number.

4. Unexplained accounts on your credit report.

5. Calls from collection agencies for debts you do not owe.

6. No longer receiving billing statements in the mail for known accounts.

Essentially any response from a creditor, merchant or business that is inconsistent with your understanding of your own credit history may be a sign of Identity Theft.

How do you protect yourself?

1. Check your credit report regularly. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide credit reporting companies to provide the consumer with a free copy of their credit report. These reports can be ordered at the same time or at different times throughout the year. "To order, visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228. Or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Do not contact the three nationwide credit reporting companies individually. They are providing free annual credit reports only through annualcreditreport.com, 1-877-322-8228 or mailing to Annual Credit Report Request

Service." (2)

2. Protect your online accounts with secure passwords and strong antivirus and malware protection.

3. Protect documents that contain personal information and shred these documents when it is time to dispose of them.

4. Avoid using unsecure Wi-Fi at home or away, for online banking and shopping.

5. Frequently monitor your bank and credit card statements for unusual activity and report this activity to your bank or Credit Card Company immediately.

6. Beware of phishing scams. These types of scams attempt to steal your information, user names and passwords by sending emails that look legitimate but direct you to fraudulent websites or infect your computer with viruses design to steal your information.

What do I do if I am the victim of Identity Theft?

1. Report it to your local law enforcement agency.

2. Contact the three credit reporting agencies.

3. Contact any creditor with whom your information was fraudulently used.

4. Report stolen checks and compromised ATM cards to your bank.

5. Report fraudulently changed addresses to the local U.S. Postal inspector.



For further information refer to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Website: Fraud and Identity Theft Information. http://sheriff.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/lasd/!ut/p/b0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPL .....



References:

1. State of California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General http://oag.ca.gov/idtheft

2. Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information.

3. http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft

Contact Information: Sergeant Byron Ward - 909-595-2264,