Protecting Yourself from Identity TheftPart 4
by Michelle Black
According to Wikipedia, “Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name.” As you know, identity theft can utterly destroy a person’s credit scores. That’s why it is so important to protect yourself from this new and constantly growing form of fraud. Today’s tip for protecting yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft is:
#4: Don’t Give Personal Information on the Phone Unless YOU Initiated the Call! Scam artists and identity thieves would love to steal your credit card numbers, passwords, mother’s maiden names, and social security numbers. Thieves often pretend to be bank representatives, collection agents, government officials, and even police officers in order to steal from the unsuspecting. To give you an example, a HOPE member recently had a member of a collection agency call her and pose as a detective. The collection agent tried to get the member’s credit card number over the phone in order to “verify” her identity. Luckily the HOPE member stopped right there and hung up and called one of our HOPE Credit Experts. We were able to help her report the attempted fraud and avoid being subjected to unauthorized charges.
Feel free to stop back by our website all this week for more tips and hints on how you can protect yourself from identity fraud. Educating yourself to the danger of identity fraud is the first step. Don’t forget to share these articles with your online friends and family too by using our easy “share” buttons below. Knowledge is power! We would love for you to help empower someone else today.
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