National Consumer Protection Week is here and there are many trends that consumers need to be aware of that are used by identity thieves to steal their information.

“Consumers need to take action. This is a time for everyone to take a good, hard look at their personal information and everything they are doing that could potentially put them at risk,” says Wayne Ivey, a 27-year law enforcement veteran and identity theft victim. “Consumers need to realize that their sensitive personal information is valuable to thieves who are continuously looking for new ways to make a buck. If something seems too good to be true, you can almost guarantee it is, and now is not the time when you want to sit around waiting or believing that nothing will happen to you.”

The FTC has just released a report on their website that shows reported cases of identity theft in 2008 to be over 1 million! We have to take action and be proactive at preventing this crime from growing, but it will take effort to minimize your personal risk:

-Be ware of thieves who use file sharing software to monitor the activities of taxpayers who file online. These have been known to intercept tax refunds that are paid to taxpayers electronically.

-“Phishing” scams are phony emails or phone calls initiated by thieves pretending to represent a legitimate company. Never provide your personal information to someone who contacts you for this information. Any company you do business with should already have collected the information they needed when you signed up with them. Report any suspicious activity to your local law enforcement agency.

-Recently, a new target has been the unemployed. Many unemployed persons will provide their personal information when applying for a job, not knowing that they are applying with an identity thief. Always check the status of the company you are applying to with the Better Business Bureau if you are unsure.

-If you were notified by a company that your data might have been lost or hacked, be sure to take action to protect yourself: check your credit, watch your bank accounts and cancel any accounts at risk.

LifeLock has over 1 million members and 1 million people can’t be wrong! Take action to protect yourself and sign up today. Lifelock promotion code Defense is a special discounted offer you can take advantage of.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.