Credit Card Identity Theft: How Common is it?
Credit card identity theft is a very common crime, much more so than most people seem to realize. Most of us just tell ourselves that it could never happen to us, that we are so careful, but are we really?
Even some of the seemingly little things that you do each and every day could really be putting you at great risk of having your identity stolen. For instance whenever you purchase anything online you are giving out your credit card number and other personal information, and so you are at risk of credit card identity theft as a result.
For this reason you should not completely avoid ever buying anything online, but you will need to take the proper precautions in terms of protecting yourself. This means that you should always take a bit of time to ensure that the site you are shopping on is safe and privacy protected, and usually the way to tell this is if you can find a symbol of a lock somewhere on the page, usually near the bottom.
You can also contact the company and ask them what they do to guard against credit card identity theft, and if they are a good company they should have no problem discussing this matter with you and helping you to feel comfortable making your purchases through their company.
There are also other things that you should be concerned with, for instance your mail every time you throw out bills and other mail that you do not want. You may think that it is being disposed of by you tossing it in the trash, but actually this is something that identity thieves want you to do because then they can rummage through your garbage and find all the personal information that they need to steal your identity.
The Problem
Credit card identity theft hits thousands of people around the world each and every year, and so rather than just assuming that it will never happen to you, it is important that you instead work towards protecting yourself and taking steps to try and make sure that this never happens to you.
Something else that will help you here is taking a bit of time to educate yourself more on this matter. Whether this means reading books on identity theft or speaking to government officials in your area about it, by making yourself more informed on the issue you will be doing yourself a world of good.
