Sunday night a Tulsa woman received alerts from her identity theft protection company notifying her that she had applications out for two different cell phone providers. What she found next is jarring--someone had come by her home and placed a note on her front door.
Once notified of these applications, using her identity theft protection service, she was able to quickly cancel the applications, for both phone services. But a short time later, she arrived home in the middle of the day to find a sticky note on her front door asking that packages be left for pickup at the front door. It's note that she's never seen before.
She and her neighbors put "fake" packages on the front of the door as bait. The scammers arrived and began to approach the house. Neighbors scared them off, obtained the license plate number and now the fate of the scammers is in the hands of the police.
Watch the below video as she shares her story with her local FOX 23 News;
What can you do to proactively protect your identity and avoid being scammed?
• Protect Your Social Security Number: Perhaps the most important number associated with your name, your social security number should be protected at all times. Never give the number out unnecessarily or leave documents that include your number lying around.
• Sign up for an identity theft protection service: These services provide important alerts for their members, letting them know in a timely fashion that something is amiss. Typically, this type of service goes well beyond the average credit monitoring service and can cost as little as $10. a month.
• Never store important account information on your laptop: If a thief does get hold of your laptop, any information that you store on it could be stolen.
• Shred your personal documents: Destroy important papers before throwing them in the recycling. Once you are finished with any documents that include any account numbers at all, shred them. Then recycle them.
• Review your credit reports: For many consumers, staying on top of what is in your credit report is the first step in identifying suspicious activity. As part of your proactive protection plan against identity theft, make sure you take advantage of your free annual credit report by ordering from the correct site online (annualcreditreport.com) or better yet, call the toll free automated line at 877-322-8228.
• Be aware of scams and hoaxes. Keeping up to date with the latest hoaxes and techniques criminals use to scam you can go a long way in keeping you from falling victim to any one of the many rip-offs in progress today.
• Make sure your computer is safe. Keep your virus protection software up-to-date. Avoid using unsecured wireless networks and be sure that you (or your children) don't have any peer-to-peer software on your computer as these systems leave easy access points for hackers, all providing an opportunity for someone to bypass your security and copy items from your computer, including photos, email, tax returns and other important documents.
Once notified of these applications, using her identity theft protection service, she was able to quickly cancel the applications, for both phone services. But a short time later, she arrived home in the middle of the day to find a sticky note on her front door asking that packages be left for pickup at the front door. It's note that she's never seen before.
She and her neighbors put "fake" packages on the front of the door as bait. The scammers arrived and began to approach the house. Neighbors scared them off, obtained the license plate number and now the fate of the scammers is in the hands of the police.
Watch the below video as she shares her story with her local FOX 23 News;
What can you do to proactively protect your identity and avoid being scammed?
• Protect Your Social Security Number: Perhaps the most important number associated with your name, your social security number should be protected at all times. Never give the number out unnecessarily or leave documents that include your number lying around.
• Sign up for an identity theft protection service: These services provide important alerts for their members, letting them know in a timely fashion that something is amiss. Typically, this type of service goes well beyond the average credit monitoring service and can cost as little as $10. a month.
• Never store important account information on your laptop: If a thief does get hold of your laptop, any information that you store on it could be stolen.
• Shred your personal documents: Destroy important papers before throwing them in the recycling. Once you are finished with any documents that include any account numbers at all, shred them. Then recycle them.
• Review your credit reports: For many consumers, staying on top of what is in your credit report is the first step in identifying suspicious activity. As part of your proactive protection plan against identity theft, make sure you take advantage of your free annual credit report by ordering from the correct site online (annualcreditreport.com) or better yet, call the toll free automated line at 877-322-8228.
• Be aware of scams and hoaxes. Keeping up to date with the latest hoaxes and techniques criminals use to scam you can go a long way in keeping you from falling victim to any one of the many rip-offs in progress today.
• Make sure your computer is safe. Keep your virus protection software up-to-date. Avoid using unsecured wireless networks and be sure that you (or your children) don't have any peer-to-peer software on your computer as these systems leave easy access points for hackers, all providing an opportunity for someone to bypass your security and copy items from your computer, including photos, email, tax returns and other important documents.
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
SUBSCRIBE
CONTACT
Leave a comment