FYI
Watch out for Identity Theft
Learn About It
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft is when someone wrongfully acquires and uses a consumers personal identification, credit, or account information.
Prevent It Before It Happens
Be careful when it comes to giving out your address & phone number, your name, your bank account, credit card number, birth date, drivers license number, and social security number
Believe it or not there are ways to prevent this happening to you!
- Do NOT hang your purse from a chair in a public place
- Sign back of credit or debet cards with signature and please see ID
- Cut-Up, shred, or burn pre- approved credit card offers that are not used
- Deposit outgoing mail in secure past office collection boxes
- Keep username and passwords protected
- Verify the source of any phone call
- Do NOT click on links found in pop-up ads.
These are just some of the things you can do to prevent your identity from being stolen.
Who Do You Contact?
- Call the companies where you know fraud has acquired
- Place a fraud alert and get your credit report
- Report identity theft to the FTC
- File a report with your local police department
- Close new accounts opened in your name
- Remove bogus charges from your account
- Correct your credit report
- Consider adding an extended fraud alert or credit freeze
Depending on your situation, you might need to take additional steps
- Resolve tax-related identity theft
- Report misused Social Security number
- Resolve child identity theft
- Resolve medical identity theft
Heads Up
On a case-by-case basis, that means approximately 7% of all adults have their identities misused with each instance resulting in approximately $3,500 in losses.
Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen.
These alarming statistics demonstrate identity theft may be the most frequent, costly and pervasive crime in the United States.
**Based on a range of information gathered from public and private resources.