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Protecting Yourself From Cyber Credit Card Crimes

Internet fraud and identity theft are becoming much more highly sophisticated crimes of which we just cannot overlook any longer. Precautions must now be taken to prevent this wrongdoing from happening to us – and there are numerous methods you can take to protect yourself. Identity theft is described as the illegal use of your name, social insurance number, date of birth, credit card or any other personal identifying information, used without your approval or knowledge, to commit financial fraud in an attempt at ‘cloning’ you for the purpose of obtaining charge cards, loans, checks and other measures that allow the thief to go on a spending spree in your name.

This crime affected approximately 11.1 million people in the U.S., in 2009, and is increasing every year, in numbers a lot too high discount. It is also becoming extremely difficult to remedy this situation should you be targeted and unfortunately, it packs quite a punch to your wallet, among many other facets of your life. If the crime is not detected early enough, it could take months or even years to clean up the damage done. Estimations vary – but the latest costs involved in identity theft, or identity fraud, states these infractions have cost consumers, in the US alone, around $54 billion in 2009.

Credit card fraud is at the top of the list. Once the thieves get your personal information, they open charge cards with high limits, and before detected, can rack up quite the bill. A high number of these ‘thefts’ were initiated online, and it is not only charge card account related – cell phones, auto purchases, and loans are up there on the list.

I’m not sure about you, but frustration and the feeling of personal violation are the emotions I feel related to this crime. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have someone running around, using your name and spending cash, which unfortunately in the short term, is your responsibility, until proven otherwise.

A recent movie titled, The Michelle Brown Story (aired on Lifetime Channel) and based on a true story, depicted a young woman, Michelle Brown, whose identity, and worse, were stolen from her. Michelle was in the process of purchasing her first home and the loan documents required to close escrow were confiscated. So, along with her identity, charge cards, drivers license and social security number, the thief also had access to her checking and saving accounts – using thousands of dollars of money to purchase items such as a new car and expensive clothing, etc. The criminal also became obsessed with her, wanting to become her, which caused Michelle much more difficulty than the average fraud. She (Michelle) had a very difficult time proving her own identity again, and in clearing her name. She also lost the purchase of her new home due to credit indiscretions, loss of funds from her account for the down payment, and many other problems related to this crime. The movie was based on a true story and if it doesn’t prompt you to take extra precautions to avoid this sort of thing from happening to you, I don’t know what will!

The problems these criminals create for victims are seriously harmful to credit ratings, your livelihood and the quality of your everyday life – not to mention massive expense in research and reporting, etc., and also time consuming to prove and remedy. To keep identity theft of your information from happening or to attempt to catch it early, follow these basic rules:

The first and foremost is keeping a close eye on your bank account regularly, at least daily. Consider using Mint to keep track of all your accounts in one place. Banks may also have fraud warnings you can attach to your account by request. My bank recently put a stop on my debit card for unusual activity, which was inconvenient because I was trying to make a purchase which was declined – and required a phone call to clear up, however they noticed a few charges that were irregular to my usual spending habits – and stopped all activity until I called and verified that the charges were legitimate. Banks are very good about watching unusual activity, and notifying you at once.

Also, charge card account companies offer this option as well, called identity theft protection, or fraud detector – when you sign up for charge cards, or even for the ones you already have, be sure you opt for the ‘credit card account fraud’ alert offered. And review your credit card account statements, very regularly.

Your credit report is also a great indicator, although a bit slower than the other methods, but it will disclose all information that isn’t charge card or debit card related. There are many quick and immediate reporting agencies out there, namely Free Credit Report that can keep you updated on your credit report.

Internet scams and viruses are designed for accessing your personal information. Trojans get access to your information via emails, and if you open the infected email, the virus actually waits for you to access your bank account information and relays that information to the hacker that instigated this virus.

Worms are another method of Internet fraud, doing exactly what the name implies, worming itself onto your computer and turning off security software so that the hacker can access your information.

Several others exist that you should be aware – scams looking like friends in an effort to get you to turn over information to them – viruses that infect your files and can corrupt your hard drive which come from internet downloads and email. Phishing is also a difficult detection as this is the act of sending an email that resembles a bank (or other online merchant that you may use) email, asking you to log in by clicking a link attached to the email…. Once you click, the hacker has your personal info.

Remember – NEVER give your any of your private information to anyone in an email or online. My policy is just to make the call – do it over the phone if applying for credit or paying for something. It is just too risky and you can never be sure who is watching or how safe that site’s security is.
Unfortunately, this crime is only going to get worse before it gets better so it takes being highly aware, and never, ever clicking on links in your inbox or on the Internet that you have the slightest doubt is legitimate. Even if they come from friends! Many of my friends have been hacked into lately, and the hacker uses the friends email address to try to get you to click on the link that is attached. Don’t do it. It is a lot, a lot easier to avoid having your identity stolen, than to fix it after it happens.

By all means, if you haven’t already – purchase a high quality security suite such as Norton or McAfee and updated it regularly. Hackers can find their way around them so quickly that you must install the updates as soon as they are available. There are also some great free options like Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast! and AVG.

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