It seems like credit card fraud and identity theft are the two things that are in the news more today than ever and people are wondering what they can do to protect themselves from becoming a victim of credit card fraud or identity theft.  One of the first things that you should do when you get a credit card is to sign your name on the back of it and make sure that you do not keep your PIN number with the card or tape it anywhere on the card just in case it is stolen or hacked because identity thieves do not need your credit card to get into your account.

Whenever you use your card in public do not let anyone see your account number and make sure that if you have to use your PIN number do not let anyone see you type it in.   You should also be careful about letting your credit card out of your sight because it can be scanned to get your information.  If you move make sure that you notify the credit card company so your statement will come to your new address and not be laying the mail box at your old address.
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Identity theft once had the simple name of debit or credit card fraud which involved using a stolen number to make fraudulent purchases.  Now that simple crime has evolved into getting the social security number of the victim and opening brand new accounts.  Most of the time the victim is totally unaware of these new accounts because the identity theft is having the bills sent to a different address so the spending goes on unnoticed until a collection agency contacts the victim for nonpayment.

Even if you check your statements every month you will not get any tips as to this happening but if you check your credit report you will see it.   This can be time consuming and expensive because most of the time it will cost you to get a copy of your credit report.  You can get free copies once a year but if you wait that long a lot of damage can already be done to your credit.

To help with this problem credit bureaus are offering an option that is called a credit or security freeze.  This credit or security freeze is just a hold that is put on your credit file at each of the credit reporting agencies which are three.  When this hold is placed on your credit file it helps to prevent potential creditors and credit card issuers from being able to see your credit history.  If they cannot see your credit history they will not issue any credit which means the identity theft will not be issued any credit in your name.
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Having your identity stolen can be a very frightening experience not to mention one that can takes months to years to straighten out.  If you have been a victim of identity theft there are certain rights that you do have as a victim.  When you know that you have become a victim of identity theft you have the right to file a report with the law enforcement agency and ask for a copy of it to use as proof your identity has been stolen.

You also have a right to get an identity theft report that is like a police report but does into more detail.  It should contain enough information that the businesses and credit reporting companies can verify that you are a victim.  It will also let them know just what information or accounts have been affected.

When you start to deal with the various credit reporting companies you have the right to put a ninety day initial fraud alert on your credit files.  You should do this if you think you are a victim or may become a victim of identity theft.  This alert just tells the users of your credit report that they must take steps to verify who is trying to get credit in your name.  To do this, all you have to do is contact just one of the credit reporting bureaus and they will contact the other two bureaus.

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Computer viruses are a piece of software that infects your computer and can do a lot of damage to your computer.  A computer virus may also be attached to documents or other software you may receive.  If you do not know that the software or file you are using has a virus, you will unwillingly infect your computer.  Computer viruses are designed to spread the virus from one computer to another and there are many ways this can happen.

One way is that once it has infected your computer it may automatically use your address book and send out emails to your contacts containing the virus.  This particular type of computer virus is called a worm.  The reason that it is called a worm is that this virus is a self propagating virus.

If the virus is attached to a Microsoft Word document it could attaché itself to any other document you create or modify using that program.  When you send another document using that program the virus goes along with it.

Sometimes you will get an e-card which is actually a virus masquerading itself as something fun and will secretly infect your computer.  You like the e-card so much you decide to send some from the same site to your friends and family along with the virus.

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There are ads on the internet and some work at home sites advertising for people to sell items on e-Bay.  Some may be legitimate but most of them are scams.  Why do these people need you to sell for them on e-Bay and pay you a fee when they could do it themselves and keep all the profit from the sale?  The reason is that this person does not really have anything to sell except for a scam.

When you look at these ads, they want you to not only have an open e-Bay account but also a PayPal account without any limitations.  Some even put in their advertisements that they are looking for hard working, honest people.  When you answer their ad they will send you the information of what they want you to see, how much you get to keep as a fee which may include the amount that e-Bay charges you for listing the items.

They will then send you the information about the item that you are to advertise for sale, a picture or two of the item, how and where they want it listed on e-Bay and their PayPal address to send the money to.  Once you have it all set up on e-Bay you have to send the link to the person you are selling the item for so they can make sure that it is done correctly.
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