Identity Theft Targets Your Banks

Bank accounts are now utilized by identity thieves to further widen the field of their crime. They are able to gain access to bank accounts because they have made it possible to acquire your personal information, such as name, account number and password. As a matter of fact, bank identity theft is one the most feared crimes by most people. It accounted to the refusal of 150 million Americans of resorting to online banking and buying items through the Internet. Currently though, banks have created effective online security measures so that their customers can safely use their online services.

How identity thieves penetrate your bank account?

• They acquire data from business establishments and other institutions by stealing information, hacking computer systems and by even bribing employees

• They sift through your trash for your personal information through dumpster diving

• They pretend to be an employer so that they can obtain personal credit information

• Stealing your wallet or purse through the conventional pick-pocketing

• Re-routing your mails so that you will not be able to receive your financial bills, which contain your account numbers

• Breaking in to your house to steal pertinent papers containing your personal data

• Acquiring vital data from you by pretending as a business institution or as a legitimate bank

• Sending deceitful electronic mails through the process of phishing

Identity Theft Protection Service

Credit consumers may also subscribe to an identity theft protection service, which offers protection from identity thieves and other services related to such crime. It may include free credit record monitoring, provides automatic fraudulent alerts, assistance in the loss of wallet or purse, aiding in identity recovery and even deleting junk mails. Examples of such companies include TrustedID, LifeLock and IdentityGuard.

What actions to do in case of bank identity theft?

If you have found out that your identity has been stolen or even suspects of suspicious activities in you financial accounts, you should do the following:

• You must close all of your accounts. Open new accounts instead and place a fraud alert on them

• Report your situation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) so that they may keep a record of identity theft cases

• Request all three nationwide credit monitoring services, namely Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, to place a fraudulent alert on your credit report.

• File a report to the local police department and file an identity theft police report.

You may not completely protect your identity from these criminals but you could always lessen your chances of being found by one. You have to constantly remind your self to be extra careful and vigilant with just about everything you do, may it be online or in the real world. After all, all these seemingly unnecessary actions will help you save your very own identity. All the trouble you have done to protect your self from identity theft will pay off in the end as you have prevented these criminals from compromising your identity.