Search Results for: blog identity theft prevention

Identity Theft – Ways to Protect your Money!

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Here are the top ten ways to protect yourself from identity theft. 1. Never give our any personal information to an individual or business unless it is absolutely necessary and you completely trust them. 2. Carry the bare minimum of identification cards and credit cards you need in your wallet or purse. Leave anything you don’t use regularly in a safe spot at home. 3. Destroy all receipts and paperwork you no longer need with a shredder. This is even important even for junk mail, especially those pre-approved offers. 4. Ensure your incoming and outgoing mail is absolutely safe at … Continue reading →

Victims of Identity Theft

Have you been a victim of identity theft? Are you looking for some ideas on what to do? You have come to the right place! Let’s talk today about some of the steps to take if you ever are a victim of identity theft. 1. Immediately place a fraud alert on all your credit reports. This will hopefully prevent any further abuse, as a fraud alert requires creditors to follow special procedures before a new account can be opened in your name. A fraud alert lasts 90 days, but you can always call again to reissue it if needed. 2. … Continue reading →

Identity Theft Prevention

Crime has changed over the years, but it is still just as serious. Instead of robbing you directly of your cash, thieves now steal your personal information and use it to commit fraud or other crimes. It is particularly sneaky as many people are completely unaware they are a victim. Often it is not until your credit and good name are ruined that you discover the actual crime. The best defense is prevention. You need to start by safeguarding all your personal information. Shred all critical paperwork and financial documents. Be scrupulous with your Social Security number. Don’t carry the … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Kids From ID Theft

We hear a lot about identify theft and most of us take the necessary steps to guard ourselves from thieves. What parents need to realize is that adults aren’t the only ones who may become the victims of identity theft. If you have a social security number you are at risk and that includes infants, young children and teens. And in some cases the perpetrator is known including the child’s own non-custodial parent. It is important that you take the necessary steps to guard against having your child’s identification stolen. Identity theft occurs when someone uses your information to open … Continue reading →

Preventing Cyber Bullying

Unsupervised kids and the internet are a bad combination. As a single mother it’s almost impossible to watch your child every second they are on the computer. Somehow, we must, until they are old enough to really understand the dangers it is our job to protect them from themselves. Young girls do not understand that people are not always who they say they are, that boy from the next town they are chatting with may very well be a grown man preying on young girls. There are many ways to protect kids online, the biggest being keeping the computer in … Continue reading →

Health Net Loses Sensitive Customer Information – Again!

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Health Net, an insurance company that covers around 6 million consumers from across the United States, has announced that it has lost track of servers that contained sensitive information about it’s customers. It is the kind of information that could easily be used to commit identity theft. This is not the first time that Health Net has had this particular problem, either. Consumers trust their health insurance companies with a lot of very important information. We give them our full names, (including our middle name, or initial). We give them our social security number, phone number, and home address. Over … Continue reading →

Credit Repair Scams

If you are on the hunt for ways to improve your credit, be very careful of credit repair scams. Anyone that makes big promises about erasing your debt or any guarantees of quickly improving your score… be wary. In the world of credit and debt, if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is. Debt reduction and credit repair take dedication and hard work. There are no quick fixes. The Federal Trade Commission monitors and regulates the credit repair businesses. Due to good consumer watchdogs, many have been shut down. Still, it pays to be very careful… … Continue reading →

Pre-approval Offers

Are you getting pre-approval credit offers in the mail? Try not to let them tempt you! The best thing to do with these is shred them quickly and toss them in the recycling bin. Many people falsely believe if they receive many pre-approved offers of credit that their credit scores must be high. Many of these junk mail offers are simply fishing scams, as most companies don’t check your credit history until after you actually say “yes” to their offer. Generally, credit card companies get your name from marketing lists. While they do look for certain criteria, an outstanding credit … Continue reading →