Top 5 Facts On Credit Card Identity Theft
What exactly is credit card identity theft, how is it used and how can you prevent it? In this article we will look at ten facts you need to know about credit card identity theft in order to better protect yourself and prevent the loss of substantial amounts of money.
The first fact that we want to look at is that for credit card identity theft to occur someone does not necessarily need to steal your credit card. Credit card identity theft occurs in one of three ways – they can steal your card, copy the details off your credit card or steal your PIN. In the last two cases you may not even realize that something is wrong until it is too late, you still have your credit card and so don’t realize that important information has actually already been extracted. The thief may have copied down your credit card information while you weren’t looking, or they may have just noticed you entering your PIN when you drew money from an ATM and made a note of it without you realizing it.
Secondly, credit card identity theft can occur through someone signing up for a credit card in your name. They will have obtained your details obviously through some method (maybe some mail stolen out of your postbox) and all they do is give a change of address, sign up for a new card and start spending on it. When they don’t pay it is you the credit card issuer will be contacting and you will suddenly find yourself faced with masses of debt that someone else has accumulated on their spending sprees.
No one is ever 100% secure from credit card identity theft. Unfortunately there will always be credit card identity theft and people who do this are very sneaky and know what they are doing. Also, the fact that identity theft may occur through simply through stealing mail you never know when this may happen. The best you can do is to put systems in place to help protect yourself and be ready to take action if anything should occur. For more info see http://www.preventidentitythefthelp.com/Identity_Theft_Shield/
Another interesting fact is that currently most credit card identity theft is happening in stores and not over the internet. Many people feel that giving out your credit card details over the internet is insecure, but what they may not realize is that you are actually more likely to have your credit card details stolen in stores than over the internet. This does not mean that you should be careless with your details on the internet, but simply that you should be just as careful at stores.
Lastly, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. One of the categories of identity theft is credit card identity theft and as such it is important that you learn as much as you can about this subject and what you can do to protect yourself.
In conclusion, identity theft and credit card identity theft as a part of that, is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. Credit card identity theft can occur in a number of ways and no one is ever 100% secure from being a victim of credit card identity theft. As such it is important that everyone learn as much as possible about this subject in order to be able to protect themselves.
Amanda Fain
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/top-5-facts-on-credit-card-identity-theft-135523.html
Identity theft, frozen credit, etc. Why did this happen?
What happen here? please read the following:
We're sorry, for your protection we are unable to deliver your FACT Act Equifax Free Annual Credit Report on the internet. There are a number of reasons that we may be unable to fulfill your request online. You may have a Security Freeze on your credit file, an Active Duty Military or Fraud Alert, or the identification information submitted online may not match the information on file.The following link will lead you to a form that is not screen-readable at this time. However, this form is not required to request your free Equifax credit report by mail. Please send your name, current address, former address, and social security number, along with any documents described below, to the following address: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. For assistance by phone, please call us at 800-685-1111.
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Identity
Social Security card
Pay stub with Social Security Number
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Utility bill (gas, electric, water, cable, residential telephone bills)
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When you requested your information on-line what you entered does not match what is on your report so they could not provide it to you. Don't worry, just follow the instructions to get your report through the mail. When you review your report send in a dispute for anything that is incorrect. The only time you may need to worry is if you see several accounts that are on your report that are not yours. In that case you may be a victim of identity theft.
Two main reasons people get this is that either they have no credit history, or they failed to answer the verification questions correctly. If you got a question like What year did you open your mortgage, yet you don't have a mortgage if you selected anything other than None of the above you will fail.
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I get this type of stuff from Trans Union all of the time. If you do not match what they have on file, this happens. If you want the credit report just send them the information to see what happened.
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Probably you have some wrong items in your credit report. Use credit repair service to find and remove such bad stuff from your credit – freecreditreport.hotusa.org
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