Credit Card Big List

In 2006, approximately 15 million people were victims of
identity theft. That means there’s a new victim of identity
theft almost every 2 seconds. The age of electronic information
has made it easier and easier for thieves to access your
personal and financial information. Once they have that
information, it’s open season on your credit.

Take John, for example. John took his family on a nice vacation
to Hawaii. He chose a gorgeous hotel and wanted everything to be
perfect. The first night there, they all went out to a lovely
dinner. When John tried to pay, his credit card was rejected for
being over the limit. John was confused. He rarely used that
card and he paid it off immediately when he did. He called the
credit card company and learned that his card had been maxed out
with thousands of dollars in purchases he never made. How could
this happen when John’s card was right there in his wallet?

It turns out, John’s credit card information had been stolen
through his unsecured wireless network. Like millions of people,
John had unwittingly opened himself up to Identity Theft by failing to secure his wireless router.
His credit card being maxed out was an early warning sign that
his identity had been compromised. John immediately contacted
all of his other credit card companies and banks to put fraud
alerts on them. He changed all of the passwords on his accounts
and took steps to secure his wireless network as soon as he got
home. John was lucky. Only one of his accounts was affected, and
those charges were removed by the credit card company. The
experience, however, taught John a valuable lesson- in this day
and age you have to be proactive in protecting your credit.

When it comes to safeguarding your information, there are some
things you simply can’t control. John’s credit card
information could have been stolen in a dozen ways he could not
have prevented. For example, credit cards can be duplicated when
you pay at a restaurant, or your information can be acquired by
bribing an employee at a credit card company or retail store you
use. Sometimes the only way you will realize you have been
victimized is if you start getting bills from accounts you
didn’t open or calls from a collection agency about debts that
don’t belong to you. Getting turned down on credit
applications is another sign. If your bank or credit card
statements don’t arrive on time, someone may have changed your
address without authorization.

You may not always be able to prevent thieves from accessing
your personal information, but you can prevent them from using
that information to ruin your credit. With the ID TheftSmart
program an href="http://www.comodo.com/idprotection/identity-management.html
">Identity Theft Prevention service from Comodo, you can
have your credit constantly monitored for fraudulent activity.
In the event that your identity is compromised, this program
provides restoration services to help return your credit to the
proper score. By taking the proactive step of signing up for ID
TheftSmart, identity thieves won’t be able to victimize you.