Prevent Identity Theft Fraud

Identity theft is the curse of the modern digital age. Every day in the news you hear about people who have new loans and credit cards that they never applied for. This is where someone has got enough of your personal details and applied in your name to get goods or finance. It’s surprisingly easy for someone to steal your details but even easier to prevent this happening to you.

Indentity theft protection and prevention is fairly straight forward. You need to take action but you can also take out indentity theft insurance.

If you think about when you want to apply for a new loan, credit card, store card or order something online, what information does the merchant require? Sometimes it’s just 2 forms of ID such as utility bills or a driving license. Certainly your date of birth, address and bank details are something you should keep close at hand - so how can you prevent someone stealing your details and stop indentity theft fraud?

- shred everything that you no longer require that has any personal details whatsoever

- never simply throw away your bills, bank statements, credit card statements or anything from government offices such as PAYE coding statements - shred everything

- don’t give away your credit card details over the telephone - someone may write them down and if there’s a rogue employee may copy them - the thief needs the credit card number and your security code from the back of the card to make a purchase

- if you get an unexpected call from your bank and they start asking for personal details never give them out - instead, ask for a number where you can call them back - or better still, phone the main credit card telephone switchboard as the thief may just give you their number

- get your credit report on a regular basis - this is easy and free in some circumstances - this will show you when someone has requested your credit report for a loan application - if there’s something you don’t recognise, start to worry and telephone the bank in question right away

- there are many online phisching scams where an unexpected email from your bank asks you to log into your account to verify your information. Banks never ask you to do this and the scammers are sending you to their site where they record all the information you type in and then log into your real account themselves and steal all your money

- when buying something in a store make sure you can see your credit or debit card at all times - be especially vigilant in restaurants where they’ll take your card away to the till - some employees may clone your card then go on a shopping spree

- get good antivirus software to prevent programs being loaded onto your PC that copy the keystrokes you are making when you log into any online accounts. These details are then passed onto the thieves and they clone your card. Make sure you use https:// when buying anything online - this means your card details are encrypted so they can’t be seen or copied.

It's unfortunate that it has come to this but if your identity is stolen it can take months to get everything put back - it’s a lot of hassle for you although most banks will refund any excess charges made on your behalf. To prevent identity theft just ensure you follow what’s outlined above.