Over 143 million was left at risk of identity theft when Equifax, a credit reporting firm, suffered a data breach last year. The credit card numbers were stolen from 209, 000 users and very few of them started to ignore checking their credit scores.
If you want to protect yourself against fraud, it’s always best to limit the number of accounts attached to your credit card or social security number. But if you want to know if you’re identity have already been stolen, you may want to look at the pointers we compiled below.
If you believe your personal information may have been at risk, you can check your bank and credit card statements online. You will then need to contact the bank or the credit card company if you see any suspicious activity to report it right away.
Are you seeing transactions or amounts that have been charged to you that you don’t recall making? You must dispute the charge by contacting the vendor as they usually have more specific information that you will need once you file a police report. In addition, make sure you change your password or if you can improve the security of your accounts by setting up two-factor authentication.
Your bank is likely to send you a new debit or credit card after you made them aware of the suspicious activity that’s going in your accounts. Now that you have a new payment method, don’t forget to switch over everything from your internet provider account to your gym membership.
American citizens are entitled to have a free credit check every 12 months. Some of the biggest credit reporting companies that offer this include Experian and Equifax. Although financial experts highly recommend that you run a credit report once every four months, most companies will charge you a fee for doing that. However, the price should be nothing when the main goal is to protect yourself from threats.
If you find out that your credit score seems to go lower or inaccurate, get in contact with the credit bureau right away because it’s highly possible that your identity has been stolen. The credit bureau needs to know about the information that you think wasn’t properly displayed on your account.
Another way to find out whether you’ve been a victim of identity them is through credit card application. Your identity may have still been stolen even if your application is approved but it also means your credit score hasn’t been damaged much by the perpetrator. And of course, if your application is not approved in spite of the good credit score you know you already have, then you must start digging more information to find out what’s going on.
A lot of people are used to ignoring their physical bills as well as their electronic bills. This shouldn’t be the case especially if you're used to paying your bills online and rely on digital reminders to inform you when a payment is due. Do not just write off your bills as junk mail when they’re sitting your inbox. You have to pay attention to those emails and physical bills and above anything else, if you don’t receive them take action immediately.
Receiving a lot less mail or e-mail is a sign that your identity has been stolen because it means a different address is receiving them. There is so many important information inside your emails so be sure to contact whoever you’re getting your mail from and verify both your residential and email address.
Another early warning sign of fraud is when you start receiving mail that you wasn’t meant for you. The identity theft may haven’t thought through things when they applied for a credit card in your name which resulted to mail being sent to what supposed to be a fictionalized version of you instead of the actual you. You can still resolve this concern by reporting it to the credit card company that the mail came from.
It’s always best to do a routine check of your credit card information and email or mails to prevent your identity to be stolen, or if it’s already been stolen, to make sure that you are able to control the damage done by the perpetrator as soon as possible.
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