Protect Yourself from Business Identity Theft

Points to Remember

Identity theft is probably the most common form of crime committed today. Frauds and scammers look for an opportunity to steal personal information like social security number, credit card and Medicare number and use it to their own advantage, either for making illegal transactions and purchases or just laying hold on another’s account and draining it of all cash, utilizing the money themselves. And today when cyber crime too is increasingly on the rise, protecting and safeguarding your personal information can be really challenging.

• Methods Applied by Frauds: The offenders resort to a number of ways to get hold of your business identity. They may steal your wallet or even look through the dumpsters and bins outside your office or workplace for papers that have been disposed off carrying your personal information. In such cases it really becomes difficult to keep a tap on the whereabouts of your personal information, since you may not even know who and when disposes off these papers. Or you could be a victim of internet phising if you use public cyber cafes for your internet banking.
• Plight of the Victims: The disadvantage of this crime is that it may take years for the innocent victim to clear all records and clean his name. He will have to produce a dozen documents in various agencies like his Credit Card Company, telephone office, banks etc to prove that he had no part to play in the theft of his social security number. Such suspicions arise because it has often been seen that a person in dire need of money himself stages the theft of his card or stages an accident to redeem insurance money, putting the officials on their guard. By the time you notice your identity has been stolen and you make a report with the concerned authorities, much of the damage has already been done. You will also need to monitor and a keep a close watch on all the transactions of your account for the rest of your life.
• Precautionary Measures: Those already aware of the reach of identity thieves themselves take certain precautions to protect themselves. Shredding of all useless but personal documents before discarding them, changing passwords of all accounts at regular intervals, checking that all the cards are safe in case you have multiple credit cards and keeping a close watch on the bank accounts, are just some of the precautionary measures that can be taken. In fact it is advisable not to carry more than two credit cards with you at a time if you are outside and keep rotating them. However, this too is not enough at times and so many people are now opting for professional identity theft protection.