Being a victim of identity theft is one of the worst things that could ever happen to someone. However there are certain steps that you can take in order to minimize your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft and here are some of them:
1.If you think that you have been a victim of fraud, the first thing you should do is contacting the fraud department of the credit card company to make sure that a fraud alert is made on your credit report.
Fraud alerts act as warnings for creditors in case someone makes an account or a transaction in your name. Fraud alerts come in two types: initial alert and extended alert.
Initial fraud alert lasts only ninety days while the extended fraud alert can even last seven years. People can choose from both fraud alerts after analyzing which one suits their needs better. In order to report a fraud alert, costumers will only contact one of the costumers reporting companies so it doesn't require a big amount of time.
2. Another good decision that should be made fast when it comes to identity theft is closing your account to prevent any transactions from being made. If you want to obtain information about any accounts opened in your name you should use the ID Theft Affidavit.
3. Also, a good thing is to file a report and inform the police about your identity theft and credit card fraud to make sure that you have a proof of the crime in case your creditors need one.
4. You also need to file a complaint at the Federal Trade Commission because they need to register your case in their identity theft cases database. When filing a complaint you will be informed about any legal issues and any problems that will come up during the process.
Nobody is protected from these types of frauds. All people can do is to try and be careful with their information. All over the internet criminals can take your personal information and use it to gain profit. Make sure that the companies you are dealing with are trustworthy and make sure that their methods of privacy are genuine.
If you ever receive mails that inform you about winning different things, just ignore them; what those people try to do is to gather information by making you fill a form with your personal data. Also, make sure that, if something happens to you, you will report it to the Federal Trade Commission to help protect other people by informing about any fraudulent mail.
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