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Early Warning Signs That Your Identity Was Compromised

By: Vijayanand

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 an 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.

Article Source: http://articleaddict.com

Vijayanand working as an online marketing co-ordinator in ID Theft team in Comodo, a leading Internet Security provider, offers a real time Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Fraud restoration services among others.

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