There are so many identity theft scams that it would take a long time to list them all and each day there seem to be even more.  When it comes to identity theft scams the scammer will use a variety of “hooks” to get you to fall for their scam.  Those hooks can include “you have won a prize”, “you are being considered for a great job”, or “someone died and left you a fortune.”  Here are just some of the many identity theft scams that are making their rounds.

The Lottery Winner

In this scam you will either receive a phone call or a letter telling you that you have won some foreign lottery that you do not even remember entering.  This should be the first red flag.  They then proceed to tell you that all they need is your address and name to make the check out too and for tax purposes they are going to need your Social Security number.  What this identity theft scammer is hoping is that the person they contacted is greedy enough to let them in the front door, so to speak and be able to steal your personal information.
You are Hired

You know that you have put your resume on various online job-seeking websites but have not been interviewed nor offered a job so how can you be ready to be hired.  When the company calls you to let you know that they would love to hire you for a fabulous position.  They fax you tax forms and a job application and all you have to do is fill them, return them, and you get the job.  Unfortunately this company is also asking you for personal information.  This should give you some indication that it is very possible that this is a scammer or identity thief and you should not give them any personal information.
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If your credit card is lost, or you suspect credit card fraud the first and most important thing that you need to do is report it to the credit card company and ask them to cancel the credit card.  Both you and the company want to stop fraud or prevent your credit card from being used to steal your personal information and make you a victim of identity theft.  The faster you act the easier it will be to fix and by acting fast hopefully you can help prevent your card from having a large amount charged to the account.

If you report it immediately to the credit card company, they can block your credit card account to prevent anyone from using it.  Once you have made the report the credit card company will issue you another credit card with a new account number.  When you activate your new card you will have to decide on a PIN so it would be advisable if you would choose a different one from the one you used on the card that was either lost or stolen.

There is a law in the United States that will protect you from liability for fraud once you have let the credit card company know that your credit card was stolen or lost.  If you let the company know as soon as you notice your credit card is missing, the most that you will be responsible for is fifty dollars.  If you do not notify the company immediately you may be responsible for more.  It depends on the credit card company and the situation.
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This type of identity theft is also known as The Silent Swindler.  It will typically happen when the identity theft uses either a mixture of real and fake or totally fake information in order to create for themselves a new identity. Typically the identity thief will use a real Social Security number with a different or fake name that is associated with that number. This type of identity theft is difficult to tract, report, and detect since the individuals were not aware of it happening.

The reason that the individual is not aware of it happening is that it does not appear on your credit report.  It is a combination of addresses, names, Social Security numbers and more so all this information does not ad up to a single person to claim fraud but a combination of different people.  Most of these will go unreported and eventually will be written of and become charge offs within the financial institution before anyone is aware of the problem.

You can protect yourself from Synthetic Identity Theft by making sure that you shred sensitive documents and mail because identity thieves have no problem going through your trash to find any type of personal information that they can use to steal your identity.  When you get those Social Security benefits booklets make sure that the income that is reported is accurate and there are no discrepancies.

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Many people are taking advantage of online shopping because it is easy and convenient.  You do not have to leave the house, fight the crowd in the store, fight for a parking spot and deal with rude store clerks.  When you decide to shop online there are some things that you should remember to make it a safe experience.

You should always know who you are buying from and if it is a store that you have not shopped at before make sure that you take some time to research the store to see what other customers have to say about their experience shopping at this store.  You can even call the number for customer service and ask about their guarantees and policies.  If you cannot find a phone number send them an email and ask them these questions and any others you might have before you buy anything from them.

Make sure that the store’s website is encrypted so any personal and financial information is secure before it is sent over the internet.  One way to make sure that the site is encrypted is to make sure that the website address begins with “https” and not “http” before you hit the send button.  The “S” on the end of “http” means that the site is secure and it is safe to send your personal and financial information.
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It may be hard to believe but many customers and merchants are most likely to become a victim of identity theft caused by one of the employees rather than by a scamster or criminal outside of the business.   When you get ready to pay and you have a choice of paying as your leave or in a restaurant setting giving the card to a waiter you should opt to pay at the register.  By doing this you are taking the necessary precautions to keep your card from being skimmed which is a scam where the employee takes an unauthorized scan of your credit card.  If you have to give your card to a sales clerk or a waiter try to keep the card in sight at all times.

Make sure that you get your credit card back quickly from the sales clerk or the waiter.  At some bars if you are running a tab the bartender will want you to give them your credit card to keep at the register so you will not stiff the establishment of money.  Do not do this because if the credit card sits at the register or bar it not only get lost or if you have a little too much to drink you may forget to pick it up.  In addition, it might get skimmed or an employee or someone else sitting at the bar that can see the card might take a picture of it with a cell phone camera.

You should also be looking for security cameras because PCI data security standards has a requirement that makes sure merchants who process credit cards in person have to have security cameras trained on the areas of credit card processing but unfortunately many of them do not.  Another area that you should be concerned about is tip fraud which means that whenever you add a service tip onto your card you are risking a tip fraud.

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