What You Won’t Believe About Identity Theft!!

Have you ever thought about how police officers and other officials protect their identity? We’ve got news for you! We’ve revealed precisely what these crooks disclose to the police about identity theft scams.

There were nearly 12 million events of identity theft in the United States in 2006, according to the U.S. Postal Service; which cost consumers about $6.3 billion! Consumers certainly raised their awareness after hearing this dreadful statistic; however, there are still consumers who are unaware of the distinctive techniques these identity thieves use. One renowned identity theft revealed, in an extensive interview, the 4 common mistakes she used to take your money!

Misconception # 1 All Identity Thieves Are Men

This is a common misconception that our identity thief says makes her job so much easier. The problem is that most of the major media outlets portray identity thieves as men. The reality is that many of these criminals are well dressed attractive women. To avoid falling into a trap, watch your personal information with both men and women. Studies have shown that both men and women let their guards down around women more so than they do around men. Everyone is a potential identity thief. This does not mean you should be paranoid rather you should simply be very careful.

Misconception # 2 Trusting Your Friendly Store Clerk or Waiter

We understand this is probably one of the most difficult things to avoid, because we usually have to give our personal information at checkout or when the bill comes at the restaurant. Shockingly, some of the people who wait may have two jobs. During the day, they may work in the department store, and in the evening they take on a side job. This “side” job is sometimes a way to easily steal credit card numbers from their customers. It works like magic, because they have access to your credit card number in hand. If you really want to stay on top of this, you have to check your account statements. Keeping a journal of your expenses may be a good thing to help you monitor.

An example would be $50 this way when your statement comes in the mail, you will quickly notice any anomalies. Think about this. How long does a person have to work at a store or restaurant before theyd have access to hundreds of customers personal data? Hint: Not long at all. According to our identity thief, most people like her take these jobs for a few months and after they have your data, they take an early retirement.”

Mistake #3: Immediately Tossing Out Unopened Junk Mail

Whether you have good credit, great credit or terrible credit, it really does not matter. You will receive in a given month between 12 and 50 plus new offers each month to open new banking, credit accounts. The problem with this is that most of us are lazy. We fall in one of two categories. The first is a person who does not own a personal shredding machine and simply tosses the multiple credit offers in the trash or simply tears them in half and then tosses them. The second is the person who does own a personal shredder but has become too lazy to shred each and every piece of documentation sent to them.

Please note that all these thieves have to do is get a hold of one item of your personal information from your trash can and you’re now a victim! Don’t believe us? Ask yourself, “What am I doing at 3 a.m.?” Then ask what our trusty identity thief is doing at 3 am. Unfortunately our neighborhood identity thief is going through your “junk” mail sifting and preparing to sort your information later. A nice suggestion: After you shred your personal documents, add a little bit of water to the trash and then seal and throw it away. Now your information has been shredded and even wet and soggy, leaving it completely unusable.

Misconception # 4 Sending or Receiving Mail from at Your Home

You’re probably catching on by now. These identity thieves commit their crimes in so many different ways. They can steal your credit card payments that you mail out and other outgoing mail from either your private or home mailboxes. According to experts, some of these thieves will even try to file for a change of address in the victim’s name, in order to have their mail with personal and financial data sent to them. Suggestion: try to drop all outgoing mail in a U.S. Post Office mailbox. Also, consider trying to open a P.O. Box. This may seem slightly inconvenient, but in order to really protect you, these are some of the necessary steps to take in order to stand up against identity theft.

One of the main issues is that there are various ways to become a victim; you really do need 24 hour a day protection. Don’t be afraid to get help!

Please note, there are not that many people that can protect themselves and their families, successfully, without help. You’ve been trying to do it alone, and it’s not very effective. Wouldn’t it make sense to have someone who has been through what you’ve been through, or better yet, what you DON’T want to go through? Companies like LifeLock provide awesome identity theft solutions for people like you and I.

When you begin to research a service to proactively monitor and protect your credit, please be sure that they have been recommended by the top law enforcement officials, and of course that their service has proven to work in real life.

Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Theft Protection are crucial. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. Life Lock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To learn more about how to protect yourself from identity thieves, visit lifelock.com

Author Linda Seamore is a consumer advocate dedicated to teaching people how to protect their identity. After months of exhausting research, she stumbled upon LifeLock.com the industry leader in ID theft protection. Life Lock is a proactive identity theft protection agency, specializing in prevention of identity theft rather than just the reporting of it.