This person tells them that if they pay right now over the phone they can avoid a court case, a large late fee, or even time in jail.  If the person hesitates or says they are not going to pay over the phone they are threatened with an arrest warrant.  By this time the person who answered the phone is scared and is not thinking.  They do not realize that there was no photograph because there was no camera to result in an overdue bill.  This scammer who called you has not ability to fine you, arrest you or take you to court.

One of the reasons that you are scared is that the person on the phone has identified themselves as an officer of the law and maybe even gave you a fake identification number.  The scammer or identity thief is hoping that you are going to be too lazy to do any fact checking and is working on you being surprised.  Being so scared that you might have to go to jail if you do not pay this overdue fine you ignore a few signs that would normally tell you that the phone call and the person making the call is anything but legitimate.

When the fraudulent cop finally convinces you to go ahead and pay the fine they will then ask for information about your credit card plus the security code on your card.  Warning bells should be going off when the person on the other end of the line starts to ask for your billing address, Social Security number, and date of birth.  If you were thinking straight you would realize that they should have all that information already, especially if they had you a picture of your license plate.

By the time you realize that this was a scam your credit cards have already had large charges on them and your identity has been stolen.

Yes, the dead.  This does not mean that they go to the cemetery and take names off the headstones and apply for a driver’s license and Social Security card in a deceased person’s name that has been dead for many years.  No, they do it with a more modern twist.  The identity thieves scour the newspapers to see who has died and makes a list of them and their address.  They then go over to the home and grab any mail that is still in the mail box that no one has gotten around to getting or else they go through the garbage.  They are looking for any type of credit card receipts, utility bills, credit card statements, etc.  This may take several days or even up to a month to get these types of things.

Many times the relatives of the one who just died is still traumatized by the death and do not think about stopping the mail, picking it up, or even contacting the credit card companies and asking them to stop sending out the statement or closing the accounts because of death.

Another way that identity thieves can exploit a deceased person is to look for homes that are being put on the market because the person died and the relatives need to sell the house.  Again, they are still getting over the death and do not think about any mail, bills, invoices, etc lying around the house that would be ideal for an identity thief to use.

The identity thief makes an appointment to look at the house and when they are looking the house over they are looking for anything that they can use to steal that person’s identity and take all of their money.  These identity thieves may work alone or with a partner.  According to statistics approximately thirty percent of identity thefts happen by stealing a deceased person’s identity.  Although you may be grieving you still need to remember that an identity thief does not know the person and is not grieving but just looking for information to steal.

If you decide to freeze your credit repot these creditors and lenders cannot check your credit score or report unless you give the credit bureau a password.  Since most places will require a credit check before they will give a person a loan an application for credit will most likely denied if they do not have the correct password to check your credit score.  You can freeze your credit report with all 3 major credit bureaus.

If you already have credit with a company they can access your credit score and report without the password.  In addition, there are certain government entities and law enforcement agencies that can access your credit score and report.  Your credit score is not affected by the credit freeze.

Here are some reasons that you might want to freeze your credit report.

• If you have been a victim of identity theft
• If your credit card number has been stolen
• If your mail has been stolen or tampered with
• If you want to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft
• If you have subscribed to a credit monitoring service

In all but nine states there are laws requiring credit bureaus to allow security freezes on credit report.  In the nine states where there are not laws requiring this, the credit bureaus voluntarily allows you to freeze your credit report.  In many states the freezing of your credit report will remain in effect until you take it off but in some states it will expire after seven years.

The fees to put a freeze on your credit report, remove the freeze, replace your PIN. Or temporarily lift the freeze can range from five to twenty dollars.  There is no fee to freeze your credit report if you have been a victim of identity theft.  You do have to contact each credit bureau individually to put the credit freeze on your credit report.

In most instances of fake check scams the one doing the scam will request that you to send money back to them in some way.  What they will do is send you a check for goods or services for more than the amount that is requested.  They will tell you to go ahead and deposit their check and then you are to wire them back the additional money.

In some instances, the scammer will ask you to wire them money for processing, legal fees, taxes, shipping, or any number of other expenses that you are going to have to pay before you will receive your reward or money.  The checks that the scammers will send you will feel and look real no matter if they are a cashier’s check or a personal check.  These checks have even been known to fool a bank teller.  These checks could have been written fraudulently or may be from a legitimate corporation or business.

Here are some things that you should be aware of.

• One thing that you should know is that fraudulent check will clear the bank quickly and the banks have to make the runs available within one to five days but it depends on the type of check.  The money may be available for you to withdraw from but if the bank discovers that it is a forgery a few weeks later and bounce the check.
• Any deposits you make are your responsibility which means that if you deposit a check that bounces the bank will withdraw the original amount of the check that was credited to your account.  If your account does not have enough money to cover it the bank may sue you to recover the money.
• There is no legitimate reason that anyone who is giving you money to ask you to send money back.  Make sure that you insist that the check be in the exact amount or deal in cash.

Identity thieves do not need your credit card number in order to steal your identity. Sometimes all an identity thief needs is just one piece of information about you and then they can gain access to the rest.  Make sure that you lock up those important documents such as social security cards and birth certificates at home in a safe deposit box which includes any credit cards that you are not using.

Many people do not realize that some of the non-financial personal information that you put online is sometimes enough for your identity to be stolen such as putting your full birthday on any social networking websites.  You should also make sure that you do not put in your home address or phone number on any website that you used for business or personal reasons.  This would include any job search sites.

You also need to be careful with your regular mail and make sure that you are following your billing cycles very close because if you do not get the statement on the normal day you usually receive it this could mean that an identity theft has gotten hold of your account and changed the mailing address.  When you order new checks you should pick them up at the bank instead of having them mailed to your home address to prevent them from being taken from your mail box.  Take any outgoing mail to the post office to be mailed because anyone can just walk by and take your mail out of your mail box.

When you get in your bank and credit card statement make sure that you review them to make sure that there are no unfamiliar charges on them or withdrawals. These are just a few of the things that you can do to help prevent yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft.