How to Stop Identity Theft
People around the world are facing an attack on their personal privacy and security like never before. Shielding your private information, to stop identity theft, is something that you must do before you become a victim. Being aware of where and how a person's identity might be stolen, should make them better equipped to deal with these potential threats.
Stop Identity Theft - When Your Card Is Lost Or Stolen
When a card is lost or stolen, it remains usable until the holder notifies the bank that the card is lost. To assist the victim, most banks have 24-hour support to encourage prompt reporting, but it is still possible for a thief to make an unauthorized purchase on that card up until the card is cancelled. A thief could potentially make purchases of thousands of dollars of merchandise before the bank or card holder realizes the card is in the wrong hands.
Stop Identity Theft - Know What Skimming Is
Skimming is the theft of credit card information used in an otherwise legitimate transaction. It is typically an "inside job" by a dishonest employee of a legitimate merchant, and can be as simple as photocopying of receipts. Common scenarios for skimming are restaurants or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim's credit card, out of their immediate view. The skimmer will typically use a small keypad to unobtrusively transcribe the 3 or 4 digit card security code, which is not present on the magnetic strip.
Another way for you to stop identity theft is to be very aware of your surroundings when you are using a ATM machine. It used to be when you were using one of these machines the only thing you had to worry about was if someone was looking over your shoulder as you were entering your secret pin number, not any more. Now a skimmer will place a device over the card slot on a public ATM machine, and proceed to steal the card number and the secret pin number from a remote location.
Stop Identity Theft - Federal Liability $50
Federal law limits the liability of card holders to $50 in the event of theft, regardless of the amount charged on the card. Merchants should demand to see some kind of picture ID to make sure the person trying to use the credit card is actually the owner of the card. This situation can become very tricky because the person holding the credit card can refuse to show additional verification, and asking for such verification may actually be a violation of the credit card company's agreement with the customer.
Banks have instituted a number of countermeasures to decrease the probability of fraud and can actually estimate the probability of fraud based on a number of factors. They are very concerned for their card holders and are going "state of the art" to protect them.
