Identity Theft

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Identity Theft

The theft of your identity occurs by either tricking you into providing your personal information such as login details, credit card numbers or social security numbers, or by physically stealing your wallet etc.

The most common way to get your personal details is by sending you a message via text, email or phone, indicating there is a problem with your account. The message tries to get you to call a number or visit a website and enter your details.

Within the message you receive is usually a link to the website they want you to login to, which is usually a fake replica of the real website you think you are going to.

You can avoid this type of scam by never clicking on a link in the message, and always typing the name of the business into the address bar yourself. If you are asked to ring a phone number, always look it up in the directory.

Although the physical theft may include your purse or wallet, sometimes it includes your written personal details recovered from your trash cans on a variety of accounts, invoices and credit card invitations.

The way to avoid this is to shred all documents with your personal information on them.

There are instances of identity theft that you can't prevent such as large scale hacking of business computers that store your personal details, or where your credit card is taken out of your sight for processing [restaurant] and the staff can record your details and the security number on the back.

You can minimize the effects of this type of theft by monitoring your accounts online and subscribing to an ID theft protection service.

Remember - always watch for scams!

Steve