| Author |
Message |
|
Options 
Bookmark online
|
sam12
Guest
|
|
Subject: Identity theft: How to prevent it?
|
|
|
Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:11 am
|
|
|
Hi
I have recently come across the term identity theft. I want to know how this identity theft happens and what are its effects. Can anybody in this forum explain me how to prevent identity theft? |
|
|
anthony
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
anthony's page
Posts: 550
13573 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:20 am
|
|
|
Identity theft is basically using another person's confidential information like the social security number, either to obtain a credit card or a loan in the name of the person whose identity is stolen or to rent an house or creating accounts with utility companies like electricity and phones. Now these people use the credit cards and dispose them off and the outstanding amount has to be paid by the person whose identity is stolen. Moreover, if the person whose identity is stolen cannot repay back the debt, it gets reflected in his credit report and lowers his credit score.
_________________
Anthony Marx
A positive attitude is not achieved by turning a blind eye to the negative, but rather by responding to every situation in the most positive way possible. |
|
|
Mary
Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Mary's page
Posts: 730
17413 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:41 am
|
|
|
Social security number and your date of birth are the two most confidential information by which your identity can be stolen. Using this number, the thief can get a credit card or a loan in your name very easily but by providing his address instead of your's so that the credit card reaches his place if it is send by post. They can just do it by informing the credit card company that he has changed the address. However, you can always prevent identity theft by placing fraud alert service with the credit bureaus.
_________________
Where there's a will, there's a way !! |
|
|
fireyone
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
fireyone's page
Posts: 4124
1011 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:43 am
|
|
|
| The short answer is that identity theft is a crime. Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. There are Web pages that are intended to explain why you need to take precautions to protect yourself from identity theft. Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else for their use, your personal data especially your Social Security number, your bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In the United States and Canada, for example, many people have reported that unauthorized persons have taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken over their identities altogether, running up vast debts and committing crimes while using the victims's names. In many cases, a victim's losses may include not only out-of-pocket financial losses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal is responsible. |
|
|
porboy
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
porboy's page
Posts: 17
935 Magic Points
|
|
Subject: Lol
|
|
|
Sun Nov 23, 2008 1:57 am
|
|
|
| This has got to be the only good thing about bad credit -my identity is worhtless for credit purposes! Yeh! |
|
|
fireyone
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
fireyone's page
Posts: 4124
1011 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:01 am
|
|
|
| thast been a jole around here for a while and I still have to laugh. Credit is very serious business but you are right who in their right mind would want to steal someones credit that is bad...Work on improving yours then keep it monitored closely. I answered your other post the best I could. Hope you seen it. |
|
|
fireyone
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
fireyone's page
Posts: 4124
1011 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:52 am
|
|
|
| Keep checking back. I personal messaged someone to check out your post to see if I missed anything. She is really good at knowing what to do and has been down the road before. |
|
|
geraldine
Guest
|
|
Subject: social security number
|
|
|
Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:11 pm
|
|
|
| recently found out that is has used my husbands ssn what can we do |
|
|
Mary
Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Mary's page
Posts: 730
17413 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:01 am
|
|
|
If you are sure that someone has stolen your husband's social security number then you should immediately file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. You can file a complaint with the FTC by visiting their website and filling up the complaint form for identity theft and you will become a registered member of identity theft. Next you should report the theft with the police. If you want you can also call up the FTC at 1-877-438-4338.
_________________
Where there's a will, there's a way !! |
|
|
Justin
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Justin's page
Posts: 1093
25288 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:22 am
|
|
|
Yes, if your social security number is stolen then you should definitely file a complaint with the FTC, but at the same time you should immediately place a fraud alert service with the credit bureaus. You need not activate the service separately with each bureau. If you activate the fraud alert service with any of the three bureaus, the other two bureaus are informed automatically. Once you place a fraud alert service, the creditor will call you up if there is any new credit application in your name and then process the application.
_________________
All the Best 
Justin |
|
|
fireyone
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
fireyone's page
Posts: 4124
1011 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:30 am
|
|
|
| A social security number that is stolen can cause years worth of damage and ruin a person finacially and quick. You really need to get that fraud alert asap..even if you just think it may happen. Repeort it as Justin said. You should also contact any credit cards you do have and just let them kn ow what is going on. You really need to move on these actions as quickly as possible. |
|
|
Double D
Guest
|
|
Subject: How to Prevent Identity Theft
|
|
|
Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:46 am
|
|
|
To answer your question: How do you prevent identity theft? The answer is that you can't. You can only try to minimize the damages when it happens.
Your personal information is already out there in hundreds of databases. You can shred all you like, place fraud alerts on your credit file, but that will only help you shrink your chances. Identity theft comes in many colors; credit, social security, drivers license, criminal, and medical. Examples: If someone claims they are you and uses your medical insurance benefits, a fraud alert will do you no good. You find out when you go to the hospital, pharmacy or dentist and learn that your benefits have been exhausted or worse you get the bill for a procedure that was done on someone pretending to be you. If someone gets your drivers license and gets a ticket/warrant or commits a crime in your name, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion won't know or care. You're going to jail and have to PROVE it wasn't you. If someone takes a job using your SS# you may only find out when the IRS comes calling for the taxes that weren't paid and guess who owes them? That's right! The Social Security Administration has no device for determining who is who. They see a SS#, not a face or fingerprint.
Sadly, too many people are under the impression that financial theft or credit fraud is identity theft. The facts are that there are multiple ways that your identity can be stolen and misused that can be devastating. Anyone NOT trying protect themselves is living in denial and hoping it won't happen to them. But once it does, the nightmare begins and the costs (financial, physical and emotional) to rectify and recover begin to escalate. |
|
|
fireyone
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
fireyone's page
Posts: 4124
1011 Magic Points
|
|
|
|
|
Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:54 pm
|
|
|
| I agree with you DD. The fact is it is easy just to put things under a social security number and then leave a person defending themselves. I have actually heard of cases around here where people have went to jail over someone else using their name. They had a guy on the news a few months back and he had to sit in jail until he could prove it was not him. We are suppose to be innocent until proven guilty but somehow it usually ends up the other way around. |
|
|
