Credit Cards and Potential Identity Theft Problems

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The credit card industry seems to be growing rapidly despite the recent economic troubles plaguing most of Americans. According to some recent studies of the credit card industry, the average American household has at least one credit card. In fact, this recent survey found that nearly 85% of American households, have at least one credit card. Many American households have more credit cards that they can wisely handle.

Credit cards offer much temptation to today’s modern consumer society. Credit cards make it easy to consume more and more products each day. Products that most American’s only use once and then discard or forget all about because they have gone out and gotten even more stuff. It never seems to end, and the sales pitches keep coming spurring even more wanton consumerism.

Since many Americans decide to get at least one credit card, using credit wisely becomes an important skill to acquire. Irresponsible use of credit cards can lead to the spread of fraud and fraudulent activities affecting the credit card industry, and the pocketbooks of many Americans.

One of the most common fraud-related problems in America is identity theft. In fact, it has been documented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the government agency tasked with dealing with such issues, that between 400,000 to 500,000 cases of identity theft take place in America each and every year.

What is identity theft? Identity theft occurs when criminals access personal information about the victim that allows them to impersonate the victim, and use their identity for financial gain. Personal information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, work related information and home addresses is used to create fraudulent applications for credit cards, purchase consumer goods or services with stolen credit card numbers of any combination of actions that result in the use of the victim’s money or credit to buy goods or services.

What are some of the way’s that consumer’s can prevent identity theft from becoming a problem for them?

Do not give out your credit card number or personal information to unknown callers. One way that criminals get access to this type of information is by picking up the phone and calling the intended victim under false pretenses. It is a good idea to never engage in phone calls that require you to give out personal data or information. Many criminals impersonate service providers in order to trick the victim into providing the information needed to duplicate the victim’s identity and use it for financial gain. Even if, and especially if, the caller says he is from the bank that issued the credit card, or account number in question, caution should be exercised and information not disclosed. It is important to verify that the caller is, indeed, a representative of the bank, or financial organization that is supposedly calling you to request this information.

Do not provide your credit card or banking details in response to freebies and give-away offers. Many scam artists, or criminals, pretend to give away valuable prizes, information or rewards in order to trick consumers into giving away their financial information. It is a good idea to never give out information that is not going to be stored securely, or used in a secure environment. A cheap paper or post card form is not the place to provide your financial information details to strangers.

Review your credit cards and financial statements on a regular basis. Having a regular check up on your credit card balance, bills and other financial documents is an effective way to prevent the criminal misuse of your financial resources. Review or verify your financial statements regularly. Ignoring your financial statements is an easy way to fall victim to identity theft. Regular checkups of your financial statements and accounts will help you find potential instances of identity theft.

Identity theft is a huge problem and concern to many Americans. By following the tips above, and practicing a little restraint, many Americans can prevent identity theft, or at the very least, lower their exposure to this growing problem. Have you fallen prey to identify theft? How did it affect your financial situation? If you have experienced identity theft, share some tips with our readers in order to help them protect themselves from this potentially financially catastrophic problem.

Identity theft can devastate a family’s finances, and affect them for years-to-come. The best prevention is education and awareness. A fun, easy-to-read guide and valuable resource full of useful information to help families protect themselves from identity theft is Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan by Frank Abagnale, best known as the writer on whose memoir the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Catch Me If You Can was based on. This great book can help you craft a plan to ensure that your most valuable resource – your good name – stays exclusively yours.

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Tags: consumer advice, Credit Cards, Fraud, identity theft, Personal Finance, shopping online

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 1:03 PM and is filed under Credit Cards, Finance, Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Credit Cards and Potential Identity Theft Problems”

Credit Cards and Potential Identity Theft Problems « Gjorge.com says:

April 6, 2010 at 11:17 PM

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