Identity theft is a serious crime and victims of identity theft can face financial ruin, devastation and even land up behind the bars for no fault of theirs. So if you have realized or suspected that your accounts have been hacked into, your credit reports have been tampered with and money has mysteriously disappeared from your accounts and you are being charged for products and services which you did not purchase – in short if you have been a victim of identity theft, you can do the following.

You have to immediately report identity theft to the concerned authorities for assistance and to seal off your accounts. First of all you have to contact the fraud department from where you will have to sound the fraud alert. Fraud alerts are placed among your personal data in offices and banks and credit institutions or financial institutions through which your monetary transaction takes place. Whenever the fraud alert detects a stolen identity, it will immediately sound the alert and warn you.

You can also subscribe to a credit monitoring agency which will, in return of a nominal annual fee, keep a vigilant eye on your transactions and account and the moment it observes a fraud, it will alert you. Once you are alerted about the crime, immediately and instantaneously report the crime to the local police station or to the sheriff without any delay. Every moment might cost you the loss of thousands of dollars or pounds.

Always obtain a police report after reporting the crime. When you narrate the sequence of events, try to be as honest as possible and stick to facts. Remember, the authorities will conduct their investigation on the basis of your statement. You have to report the identity theft to your banks from where you obtained the debit/credit cards as well as to the SSN office. Your previous SSN will be locked and a fresh SSN will be issued to you.

When you report the identity theft to your bank, they will also seal off your previous debit/credit card numbers and block their usage. So the moment anyone tries to withdraw or siphon off money from your account, the attempt will be thwarted. Sound an alert with the check verification company as well to block unauthorized users.

Even while activating the seal offs, if you discover that money has been withdrawn from your account without your knowledge or approval, you can bring the incident to the notice of the bank authorities and they will try to identify and trace the offender and retrieve your money. Don’t deposit any more money into your account for some time at least.

Your bank may freeze your account and issue a new account for you with new check books, new account numbers, new debit/credit cards. Show the police report to back up your claim.

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 If you connect your computer without any security softwares to the internet, hackers, identity thieves, viruses, spywares can attack your computer within seconds. The checklist can help you to select the proper security software for your computer, so that you can go online and surf the internet with confidence.

If you connect an unprotected computer or computer without any security software to the internet, cyber criminals, hackers or identity thieves can attack your computer within seconds. So, to avoid such security problems and identity theft, you should have security software with at a minimum, firewall, antispyware and antivirus protection.

There are various internet security softwares available on the internet with basic firewall protection. However you should also look at the additional security tools and features available with these softwares for complete security on internet. The checklist below can help you to select the proper security software for your computer, so that you can go online and surf the internet with confidence.

Firewall:
Firewall is necessary to block the unauthorized access to your computer data. It monitors the inbound and outbound traffic from your computer to the internet and blocks any suspicious traffic coming to your computer. Firewall could be network and program firewall and operating system firewall.

Network and program firewall:
Internet security softwares provide network and program firewall to protect your network from suspicious traffic and to shield your programs from malware. It should be a multi-layer firewall or with multiple layer of security for high level of security.

Operating system firewall:
Some internet security software also provides operating system firewall to protect your operating system. This tool blocks any malicious software from causing damage to files in your core windows operating system. It also blocks entry of hard to remove spyware with kernel-level threats to computer to protect your operating system from any damage.

Full Stealth Mode:
This feature is required to make you invisible to hackers, so that you can surf the internet without any fear of getting hacked.

Antivirus:
Antivirus is necessary to protect your computer from damages by viruses, worms and trojans. You should never connect your computer to the internet without updated antivirus program with the latest definition files.

Antispyware:
Integrated antispyware is required to protect your computer from spywares and intruders to protect your personal information. Spywares get installed on your computer without your knowledge and gather your personal data, information and web activities and transmit that data to others.

Complete Spy Site Blocking:
Spyware distribution websites are the main source for spywares. This feature blocks these websites and also blocks you from visiting these sites by mistake or redirection to websites, which distribute spywares.

Identity theft protection:
Identity theft protection is necessary to protect your identity and personal information on your computer. With increase in e-commerce, online buying and credit card usage on internet, identity theft could be major problem. So, nowadays, protection against identity theft is must while accessing the internet.

Real time updates:
Real-time security updates for protection against any new possible attacks and viruses.

Anti Spam and Anti Phishing and Email protection:
It protects you from phishing e-mails and e-mail fraud.

Instant messaging protection:
IM protection protects your instant messaging session from hackers, spammers, spywares and virus attacks. You can also use this tool to restrict your kid to use instant messengers only with trusted people.

Parental control:
This feature is necessary to prevent your kids from accessing inappropriate websites and objectionable content on web sites.

Credit Card Monitoring alerts:
Some internet security software provides credit card monitoring alerts which alert you if your credit card number appears online. This tool is very useful if you use your credit card on internet for transactions.

Although firewall, antispyware and antivirus protection is must in any internet security software, but additional security tools can also help you to improve your security on internet. With this checklist you can make the right choice for your security software program.

For details on internet security softwares with essential security tools and features for complete security and protection on internet, please visit Internet Security Software website.

Technorati Tags: Identity Theft, Identity Theft Software, identity thieves, stop identity theft

Identity theft

You are a normal hassle free regular individual who keeps money in his bank account, enjoys a good credit history and has a host of ATM cards, SSN, a few debit and credit cards along with the mandatory passport and driving license.
Life was going on smoothly till you received that call from your creditor urging you to pay up a huge credit card bill that you have supposedly run up.

You are confused and surprised and check through your credit report. Much to your alarm and surprise you find that you will have to cough up a huge bill for products and services and expensive stuff you never purchased.

The money in your bank account has reduced to the bare minimum and there are more bills coming in for more stuff, even while you are wildly running about in the bank and pulling out all the hair out of your head!

If lady luck is not on your side and has deserted you, you are in for more trouble because you may end up being financially broke and ruined and may have to land up behind the bars for no fault of your own.

If your case sounds something like this, you have probably been a victim of identity theft. Not only individuals, but even companies and corporations and financial institutions can become victims of identity theft and face huge financial losses, loss of credulity and even closure.

At times it takes years and millions of pounds and dollars to clear the tainted name and regain the good will, all because of no fault of theirs but because of identity theft.

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the developed world and one case of identity theft takes place every 3 minutes in countries like USA, UK and Canada. More than a hundred thousand identity theft cases are annually reported in UK.

And all these, in spite of stringent laws being in place which have decreed identity theft a serious criminal offence to be punished with rigorous imprisonment extending to 5 years depending on the severity of the crime.
Anyone can become a victim of identity theft and the next victim could be you.

Articles concerning identity theft

In order to protect yourself from identity theft and learn the techniques of preventing this crime or identifying identity theft procedures, you require the help of articles concerning identity theft.

These articles, which are found abundantly all over the cyberworld, will teach you the ABCs and the XYZs of this crime and clear all your doubts and confusions. These articles will also tell you how to protect yourself from identity theft.

The best thing about articles concerning identity theft that are found in the cyber world is that they are completely free and you don’t have to pay a penny to read through them or access them or pick up valuable tips and increase your awareness levels.

Technorati Tags: Identity Theft Assistance, identiy theft and fraud

Protect Yourself From Identity Theft Online

When identity theft online happens, it can be several months before you are aware that anything has happened. This makes it much more dangerous than other types of theft. If someone steals your wallet, or your car, you notice it immediately, and can start to take steps to protect yourself. When someone plants a cookie on your computer, you don’t even notice it. Each time you visit a site, send an email, or use your credit card online, all the information is delivered to the eager hacker. From there, he can either use the information himself, or sell it online to anyone with the cash and the desire for an alternate identity. A recent report from a major internet security firm estimates that the value of all your personal identity data is about $18 US, and can be purchased on a number of internet sites.

A number of computer programs are available to help you protect yourself from identity theft on the internet. If you are considering purchasing a program to make your computer more secure, take the time to do the research before investing your hard-earned money. You want a program that is frequently updated. The identity theft hackers are constantly working on ways to out smart these types of programs, and you want one that is working just as hard to protect you. Once you decide on the right program, be sure that you don’t ignore the messages to download the latest upgrades. If you ignore these messages, you are refusing to keep your computer secure.

It is also a good idea to frequently change your passwords to any sites that hold your personal information. Use a combination of letters and numbers, and don’t use phone numbers, addresses, or birthdates for your passwords. Also, if you share your computers with others, or use the internet at work, do not check the remember this password prompt. This is an open invitation for anyone else that uses the computer to have full access to all your information.

If you suspect that you have become a victim of online identity theft, there are a few steps to take immediately. You will need to place a fraud alert on your credit report. This tells creditors to take extra steps before opening any new credit accounts in your name. Next, you should close any accounts that you know were opened fraudulently, or have been tampered with. Also, notify your local police, and file a report with them. They will want information about how and where you think the identity theft took place. You can use the History button on your internet browser to track websites you visited recently. This will help to narrow down the suspect sites.

Identity theft online is quickly becoming a threat to all internet users. Once you become a victim, your life, and your credit rating will never be the same. Take steps today to prevent identity theft on the internet from happening to you and your family.

By: Gerri Stone -

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Get your Free software download of Evidence Eraser at Identity Theft Protection Protect your identity and your privacy with the world’s leading privacy protection software.

Technorati Tags: avoiding identity theft, stop identity thieves

Before defining identity theft, let me first give you some examples. It will be easier for you to understand what identity theft actually is. Suppose the police people come to your house or office, accuse you of committing a crime that you never committed and arrest you. Or maybe creditors suddenly call you up and urge you to pay a huge credit card bill for that month whereas in reality you haven’t even used the credit card once during that month.

Incidents like these show that you have been a victim of identity theft.

What is identity theft?

It is billed as a perfect crime and through identity theft; the conmen or fraud artists can victimize anybody. In this type of crime one person takes on the identity of another individual, that of his victim, through the help of personal information gathered from personal documents like credit card number, license number, passport, social security number and other such complete array of closely related data.

Here the thief or identity stealer will pose as some other person by stealing valuable information about that person from the above mentioned sources to make financial gain or for some kind of criminal activity. He will not only take on the name and identity and date of birth of his victim but also try to siphon off as much money from his accounts and investments as possible.

So gone are the days of physical robbery and enter hi-tech robbery. Identity theft is in fact a hi-tech kind of robbery where the identity stealer or robber will use your personal info and details to gain complete control over your credit and bank accounts, purchase services and super expensive stuff using your credit card or apply for huge loans. Needless to say he will disappear with the money leaving you to face the music and brave the storm.

How is identity theft committed?

In contemporary times, an identity stealer will try to get access to electronic data systems. He will do it by forging the victim’s ID documents such as citizenship documents or birth certificate or by getting hold of newly created credit accounts and by charging in improper ways the accounts that already exist.

Technology has advanced a lot in modern times and in keeping with that the identity stealers have upgraded their tech skills and they take to hi-tech hacking so that they might infiltrate into public database systems that enjoy low restriction and in this way they might even end up hacking into vital government database system.

Victims of Identity Theft

Anybody can be a victim –
Financial institutions
Small enterprises
Corporations
Individuals of all ages with a good credit history and with an average well off income.

Identity Theft Penalty

Identity theft is widely prevalent in Canada and USA and has resulted in the loss of credulity and closure of thousands of concerns and firms and therefore the governments of these countries as well as almost all other countries in the world have put in place stringent laws and penalties in an effort to curb identity theft.

There is a very tough identity theft law prevalent in USA by the name of The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act that awards imprisonment of 2 to 5 years depending on the severity of the crime.

Technorati Tags: idnetity theft, penalty, punishment, stop identity thieves