Frequently Asked Credit Questions about Identity Theft

How Can My Personal Identity Be Stolen?

Your identity can easily be stolen by thieves and criminals who will use many different but often successful methods to steal identities from unsuspecting individuals.

Criminals have developed many different methods to steal you ID and we have listed just a few of the most common ways here so that you will be more aware of what they do.

Finding and removing personal information from dustbins.

If your house is stolen from then they make take your personal documents and letters as well.

Stealing post and parcels from front doorsteps.

Taking purses from ladies and wallets from men by pick-pockets or other devious means.

Taking on the identity of a dead person and pretending that they are still alive.

Redirecting someone's post to their own address to obtain their personal details.

Removing credit card receipts to discover your personal details and credit card number.

Many large gangs of identity thieves operate in cities where it is easy for them to target unsuspecting individuals to get their personal identity information.

Unfortunately if your ID does in fact get stolen you may end up in a position where your personal information is used by these gangs in trafficking or even terrorist activities.

How Will I Know If Personal Identity Has Been Stolen?

There are many ways in which you might find out that your identity has been stolen.

When you find out quickly there is a good chance that you will be in time to stop fraud taking place.

Each entry in the list below could be considered an indicator that your identity has been stolen:

You get a statement for a new credit card, which you never applied for.

An unknown bank account statement in your name arrives for you.

You find transactions on your credit card statement for goods you did not buy.

You see transactions on your bank statement that should not be there.

You a get letter or call from your bank or credit card company about unusual transactions.

So you should always pay careful attention to both your bank and credit card statements and everything your receive through the mail which is a little different from normal.

Ignoring the threat and failing to carefully monitor your financial transactions could mean that identify fraud will take place before you know what is happening.

Trying to sort out the issues after identity fraud has occurred can be very difficult and take along time to resolve.

The best advice is to not let it happen in the first place!

The best way to find out is to obtain a copy of your credit report on a regular basis from one of the major credit reference agencies.

By monitoring your credit report for changes and unusual discrepancies you will be one step ahead and have a much better picture of what is taking place in your name, even if it is not you!.

About the Author

Dave Joa provides more information on how to use a Free Credit Report in the UK to Stop ID Theft at his UK Credit Reports website.