Have you had a friend or a family member find strange transactions on their credit card that they didn’t make? Have you ever received a call from a debt collection agency demanding money for a purchase you never made? Then you could be a victim of identity theft. Identity theft occurs when a criminal uses another person’s personal information, such as a Social Security number or a credit card number, to steal their identity and commit fraud. Experts estimate that 9 million Americans fall victim to identity theft every year. Criminals using someone else’s identity can rent apartments, buy cars, clothes, expensive jewelry, all on the credit of another person.

Below are different ways that identity thieves can access your information and things you can do to prevent them from getting to your money or personal identification.

Four common identity theft methods:

Trash- Dumpster divers go through trash to find personal account information and financial statements that reveal account numbers and credit card numbers. Personal banking statements, credit card information, ATM receipts, and tax forms are forms are extremely lucrative to identity thieves.

TIPS

• Shred all sensitive financial information before throwing it away

Your computer- You can give someone else your identity without moving from your chair. Through “phishing” hackers and criminals can get your personal information. Phishing is when thieves pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send pop up windows or spam to try and get your financial information. Spyware and malware can get into your files and send out your personal information to an identity thief. The number of viruses and spyware is increasing; McAfee reported a 500 percent increase in malware in the year 2008 alone. Also, selling a computer with information still on your hard drive is one way your personal identity can get stolen.

TIPS

• Buy anti spyware and anti malware protection for your computer and run regular scans
• Erase your hard drive if you sell or give away your computer
• Be cautious with online shopping sites. Go to the Federal Trade Commission website for more info on phony online shopping sites.
• Encrypt your wireless connection
• Don’t be lured in by phishers

Your mail- Experts estimate that 400,000 Americans get their identity stolen through stolen mail each year.

TIPS

• Do not leave outgoing mail in an unsecured location
• Don’t leave mail in your mailbox overnight or through the weekend
• Get a mailbox lock

Things you can do now to monitor your credit

• Consider placing a credit freeze over your accounts. This prevents a criminal from opening up a new credit card under your name. The freeze costs five dollars (unless your identity has already been stolen, and then it is free). If you need to apply for a new line of credit you can temporarily lift the freeze so that you, and not a criminal, are in control of your credit. You can still receive your annual credit report even if you have frozen your credits. Forty seven out of fifty states have credit freeze procedure. To find yours, go to the Consumers Union’s Guide to Security Freeze Protection site
• You can get a free annual credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com Check your credit to see if there are any accounts you did not open or purchases you did not make.

For more tips and information about identity theft, check out the Federal Trade Commission’s OneStop Site for Identity Theft Victims or The Ultimate Guide to Identity Theft Prevention.