Identity Theft Check

The use of PIN numbers, rather than a simple signature for credit and debit cards, has made identity theft slightly more difficult. It’s much harder for a criminal to guess your PIN number than forge your signature.

However, you do have to take steps to protect your PIN if you want to keep the criminals at bay.

Firstly, never write your PIN numbers down- at least not in a visible or decipherable way. And keeping your PIN numbers in the same place as your cards is a major no no- don’t even consider doing it!!!!

Also, when entering your PIN number, ensure that nobody else can see the numbers that you are entering- particularly if there is someone standing particularly close to you.

Keeping your PIN numbers safe means the chances of identity theft are lessened.

Identity theft is becoming more and more common, particularly over the internet, so you really do need to understand the implications of becoming a victim to it.

Identity theft isn’t just as trivial as somebody pretending to be you- it can have a serious effect on your life and your future.

If you fall victim to identity theft, you could be set up for a crime you didn’t commit and, at the lesser end of the scale your credit rating could seriously suffer.

Although pretty much anyone can be targeted by ‘identity thieves’, just by shredding important documents and keeping yourself safe online, you can really reduce the possibility of falling prey to these criminals.

The popularity of sites such as Facebook and Twitter are at an all time high, and millions of users log on every day to catch up with friends and let the world know what they are up to.

However, as with most popular things, there is always somebody who wants to come along and spoil all of your fun, and social networking sites are no different.

When you sign up to these sites, you’re often asked to fill in lengthy forms, full of your personal information. Whilst the owners of these sites do their utmost to protect you, you also need to protect yourself.

You should make sure that you never have your full birthday showing, and also never log in to any applications which ask you for personal information- as you never know who it is going to.

Be a little more aware of the information that you display on these sites and you don’t have to let your fun get spoilt!

Recently, after a short while, I logged back into my Myspace account, only to be told that I had been ‘phished’ and that I needed to change my password.

I’d never even heard of phishing before, so was a bit alarmed when I was told I’d been victim to it. Basically, phishing is when fraudsters get you to put your login details into a page that looks like the site, but it is actually a fake page which allows them to capture your login details and use them to do all sorts of fraudulent things.

Thankfully, I don’t have any financial information stored on Myspace, although my date of birth and address were on there, which left me wide open to identity theft. I’ll be keeping my beady eye on login pages from now on, that’s for sure…

Most of us have shopped online at some point in our lives, and it is becoming more and more popular by the day. However, with the popularity of online shopping at an all time high, the amount of opportunists who are ready and waiting to steal your credit card details and identity is also on the rise.

I know of at least one person who has had this happen to them, and a large chunk was spent on her credit card. This happened a few months ago now, and she still hasn’t received the money back, and the culprits haven’t been prosecuted.

So, when shopping online, make sure that the site has the ‘padlock’ icon, or similar in the corner, and ensure that you log in using the correct homepage- as phishing is also on the rise.