creditsafe

When it comes to your identity, you can never be too careful these days. That’s why it’s good to be familiar with any warnings signals of credit identity theft. It would be a shame to ruin an excellent credit score , that you’ve worked so hard to achieve. No one wants to be a victim of ID theft, but it can happen to anyone. Here’s what to watch out for so you can stop identity theft right away. 1) Unauthorized Purchases – always check over your credit card statement and make sure all the... Read Full Story

It may seem odd on the surface in this day and age of identity thefts, but Visa has decided to create a program called No Signature Required. The program will be offered to 800 different types of retailers and is limited to transactions under $25. The types of retailers included on the list are hair salons and sporting goods stores. The reason Visa has decided to open this program is that not requiring a signature on small transactions can increase the speed of checkout at retailers. The... Read Full Story

Identity theft is a growing problem across the nation, and Yakima Valley in Washington State is yet another location joining the list of places experiencing growing numbers of thefts. David Gilbreath is the president and CEO of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Yakima Valley. He reports that identity theft is one of the most rapidly growing crimes in Yakima Valley but it is difficult to police. The reasons for the policing difficulty are twofold. First is the fact that there are not... Read Full Story

Identity theft is no laughing matter. In 2008, almost 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft crimes, which was 22 percent higher than in 2007. What may be even more alarming is the fact that identity theft is usually not the work of a computer genius with expert hacking skills. Approximately 43 percent of identity theft cases come from low-tech means like stolen wallets and sensitive information on important documents. This is in stark contrast to what most Americans are... Read Full Story

Identity theft is on the rise and the laws that protect consumers are also becoming increasingly tougher and with few loop holes, plus consumes are receiving more protection too. With 27.3 million Americans suffering from identity theft in the last 5 years and with just under 10 million last year alone, you can quickly see why identity theft laws needed to get tougher. . The FBI dedicates a great deal of resources to identity theft, but if we’re being honest many times nabbing these... Read Full Story

Although financially you might not be on the hook if your identity is stolen, you will be on the hook for hundreds of man hours you’ll need to correct the problems created all over the place. Just last year 9 million Americans discovered their identity had been stolen, a number that continues to grow each year. Technology has left us much more vulnerable than in the past, because someone, thousands of miles away, with the right skills can hack into credit bureaus, medical records, banks... Read Full Story

In recent years, it has come to attention of authorities about an underground market involving stolen or marketed SSN cards and illegal immigrants, especially those from Mexico. This underground market is barely a blip on the American authorities’ radar and it’s occurring from one coast to the other. There are actually two ways that illegal immigrants are getting SSN cards. Mexicans that has a legal SSN card and who have returned to Mexico for whatever reason, will lend, rent, or sell their... Read Full Story

Scammers have targeted credit cards since their inception. In the old days, before electronic transfers, people used to worry about the carbon slips falling into the wrong hands. These days, people worry about everything. It is true that scammers and thieves can obtain financial details by stealing or hacking electronic equipment. However, it is not true that you will have to pay the entire bill if you have been hacked or scammed. Check with your credit card provider as to what are your... Read Full Story

You have to keep certain financial records and backup documents stored for a designated amount of time to meet IRS regulations. Unfortunately consumers tend to keep too much on hand instead of under lock and key and that makes them more vulnerable to identity theft or fraud. Looking around a typical household will reveal a wealth of personal information including social security numbers, account numbers, account passwords and so on. One of the most important steps consumers can take to... Read Full Story

Preventing identity theft is not just a matter of implementing new government regulation. Laws can be passed between now and the end of the world intending to prevent identity theft, and yet there would still be those creative criminals able to slip between the cracks. The moral of this story is that you need to do everything possible to protect yourself from those determined to steal another person’s identity for the purpose of buying goods and services or to obtain credit or loans... Read Full Story