What You Need To Do If You Become a Victim of Identity Theft
The response to my recent BlogTalkRadio program “Why You Should Be Concerned About Identity Theft,” was overwhelming. My guest, Steven Weisman and I discussed some of the reasons and ways that identity theft occurs.
Many of you wanted to know what to do if you were a victim of identity theft. This week, Steve returned to discuss what you should be doing if you find that your identity has been stolen. Here are several of the topics that Steve and I covered.
– The importance of filing a police report
– Initiate a credit freeze
– How to correct your credit report
– How to deal with debt collectors
– What you should be doing about your passwords
In case you missed the interview, you can hear the complete program by clicking on the blogtalkradio logo below.
Why You Should Be Concerned About Identity Theft
Have you been a victim of Identity Theft?
Are you concerned about all the reports of personal information being stolen from corporate data bases?
According to most sources, approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year.
Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year.
Steve Weisman, one of the country’s leading experts on scams and identity theft, offers the following tips for cleaning digital house:
– Make birthdates private on Facebook. Hackers glean personal information, such as age and location, from social media accounts to piece together social security numbers. By keeping birthdates private and opting for snail mailed birthday wishes, identity thieves have one less resource.
– Delete saved credit card numbers. To safeguard against data breaches, remove credit card numbers on file with retailers and enter them anew with each purchase.
– Swap generic passwords with tailored phrases. Use a strong and unique password for each frequented online website. A password made up of a phrase such as “IDon’tLikePasswords$$$” combines capital letters, small letters and symbols and is easy to remember. Personalize for a particular site by taking a few letters from the site and adding it to the password. An Amazon password would be “IDon’tLikePasswords$$$Ama.”
– Remove old anti-virus and anti-malware software and install updated versions. Keep devices safe and secure with the latest software and security patches as soon as they are available. Keystroke logging malware can invade devices with weak security and capture credit card information.
Recently, I interviewed Steve on my BlogTalkRadio program. To hear the complete interview, click on the image below.