You may have laughed off at the absurdity that is shown in
identity theft commercials. But they should be not something to laugh about.
Some commercials may have even touched or scared you. But
the most effective identity commercials are those that make people wary
whenever they go out or use their credit cards.
IdentityTheftCommercials.What you see on television is actually a example of what
might happen in reality. No matter how funny or violent these identity theft
commercials maybe, they are nothing compared to what can happen in real life.You can actually benefit and learn from watching commercials
about identity theft. Try to listen to the accounts of identity theft victims
talking about all the things the thief was able to purchase and what they have
accomplished using your identity.
IdentityTheftCommercials.Identity theft is not just what you see in your tube. They
are real and actual problems that still have no solutions. On the contrary, it
is getting worse and worse as time goes by.The more conservative methods used by identity thieves
consist of stealing records or information while on the job and stealing your
mail, such as bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks
and tax information.
IdentityTheftCommercials.Mail can be stolen while it is to and from your mailbox. A
thief can fill out a “change of address’ form and have your mail brought to a
different address. They can also gain access to your information by going through
your trash or the trash of businesses or public trash dumps.
To get a credit report, identity thieves may pretend to be a
landlord, an employer or someone else who may have legal right to admission to
your personal information.
IdentityTheftCommercials.Even if you think your own personal information is well
protected, you may not be aware of some of the high-tech, and highly clever
methods that thieves today are using to get your personal data.
Some of the most popular commercials show some skimming and
phishing strategies that identity thieves are doing.
In skimming, identity thieves obtain credit or debit card
numbers by putting the information in a data storage device they have put to an
ATM or automated teller machine.
On the same note, shoulder surfing is when an identity thief
uses a camera phone or positions near a person who is using the ATM or is
typing in his or her credit card number into a phone. The most recent trend
in this crime involves fraudulent emails. This is quickly becoming one of the
frequent cases.According to results of a survey done by a financial
transaction company, around 43 percent of users have received phishing
contracts in their emails. In this strategy, identity thieves pose as banks,
credit card companies or other institutions to get you to give out information
such as passwords or account numbers. In the more
sophisticated strategy also known as pharming, users that are trying to get
into a certain site is mislead to fake sites that have the same address.
Now that you already know some of the identity theft cases,
you maybe wondering if you can use the measures you have seen on identity theft
commercials. Although some of them may be reality-based and can actually work,
it is important that you also know some of important things not seen in those
commercials.Consumers can avoid being an identity theft victim by using
only ATMs that they are familiar with, checking out the machine to be certain
that nothing looks out of the ordinary and covering up the pin number you are
using.
You should continue maintaining your monthly checks and
statements for at least one year in case you need to disagree over a particular
check transaction made.
Finally, when you throw out papers that have personal
information, such as ATM , bank checks, etc. try to shred them first before
dumping. It is also a good idea to keep
a file of all credit cards, account numbers, expiration dates and credit card
customer service phone numbers in a safe place in case your cards are stolen or
lost.
You can never be too careful these days. Anyone can be a
victim of identity theft, commercial or no commercial.
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