Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft
In this modern digital age your identity and personal information have a value on the criminal marketplace. Once a criminal has got hold of your personal and private details, they can be used for fraudulent purposes. These in general cover the following activities, opening bank accounts taking out credit cards, loans, claiming for state benefits and applying for other documents such as passports and driving licenses. All of these fraudulent actions will be in your name. Criminals commit identity theft simply by stealing your personal and private information. The easiest, and most often way is done by taking documents (letters and bills) from your rubbish or by making contact with you over the phone and claiming to be from a legitimate organisation or business. Identity theft can result in fraud which will immediately effect your personal financial circumstances. It is also costing the government, banks and other financial services several million of pounds a year. If your are unlucky enough to have your identity stolen, this can have the result that you may have difficulty getting loans, credit cards or a mortgage until the matter is sorted out. Sorting out an identify theft problem can be a long a protracted process. There are a number of easy ways in which you can start to protect yourself against this global problem. Keep your personal documents in a safe place, preferably in a lockable drawer or cabinet at home. Consider storing valuable financial documents such as share certificates with your bank or other secure environment. You might even want to consider installing a home safe. They are a small price to pay for some piece of mind. If your either passport or indeed your driving licence has been mis-placed or stolen contact the issuing Government department straight away and let them know. Never ever throw away entire bills, shop receipts, credit-or debit-card slips, store card statements, bank statements, letters from your bank or even unwanted post that has your full name and address on it. Remember to destroy unwanted documents, preferably by using a shredder if you have one. If you do not have a shredder make sure you tear your unwanted post into small pieces. Check your bank and any credit card or store statements as soon as they arrive in the post. Try and keep and manual track of your card usage and if any unfamiliar transactions are shown on the statement, then contact the company concerned immediately and let them know. Be extra careful if you live in a shared property or where other people could have easy access to your post. In some cases a bank or credit card company can arrange for you to collect important and valuable items such as new plastic cards or cheque books from a local branch. Whilst this might be a little inconvenient for you, at least you can be sure that these items will not get intercepted. Finally, one that most people tend to forget or leave until it is too late, if you move house, tell your bank, tell your card issuer and tell all other organisations and business's that you deal with immediately or your change off address. You can also ask the Royal Mail to redirect any mail from your old house address to your new house address one for at least a year. All of the above tips will go some way in helping you to protect your identity and most importantly prevent criminals from committing fraud in your name.
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