The Bureau's report also found that 85 percent of identity theft incidents involved fraudulent use of existing credit cards or bank account information, and 91 percent of victims knew nothing about the offender.
How to protect yourself against identity theft
There is no way to prevent identity theft, but fortunately there are steps you can take to protect your identity. Whereas the majority of the identity of the victim were stolen by foreigners and existing credit cards and bank accounts, this means that the victims were unconsciously revealing some of their personal information. One of the main ways that people unwittingly reveal their personal information is throwing mail or documents that contain sensitive information.
A proactively to prevent thieves to collect personal information from your trash is by shredding all your mail - all from pre-approved credit card with a general letter from your doctor. Make sure you buy a cross shredder because it completely destroyed the documents, as opposed to any right which cut the paper into strips.
Another way to protect your identity against theft is to check your credit card statements and bank account very carefully to ensure that all transactions have been completed by you. This is particularly important given the Office report found that the majority of identity theft fraud involved existing bank accounts of the victim or credit cards. If you find a transaction that has not been completed by you, then you should call the bank or financial institution to report potential fraud.
In addition to shredding documents and credit card verification and banking, you should also check your credit reports regularly. The government allows you to check them once a year with free AnnualCreditReport.com, but once a year is not often enough to catch the opening fraudulent credit lines that could be opened by thieves throughout the year. That's why it's a good idea to invest in some sort of credit report monitoring service that actively monitors your credit reports and alert you if any new activity appears on them.
Is there an easier way to protect your identity?
An alternative to actively check your credit reports is to register for a protection service against identity theft. Most of these services not only actively monitor all three of your credit reports, but also monitor the activity of your personal information on public records and ensure your information is not sold or traded to thieves identity on the Internet black market. As for detailed credit report monitoring services above, these services will also send you an alert in real time if any of your information is compromised or if something changes with public records or credit reports.
Visit our Reviews identity theft protection to learn the details of each of these services, and find the best service for you.