Becoming Theft Aware

Terms To Know:

Credit Report: A detailed report of an individual’s credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by many financial institutions to determine an applicant’s creditworthiness.  Reports include, Personal Data (current and previous addresses, social security number, employment history), Summary of credit history (number and type of accounts that are past-due or in good standing), Detailed account information, Inquires into applicant’s credit history, Details of any accounts turned over to credit agency, lastly information on how to dispute any of the previous information.

Credit Freeze:  Today many states have given consumers the ability to “freeze” their credit, which restricts any access to his or her credit report.  This includes any companies, creditors, or third parties who may be trying to gain access for any reason, until you temporarily lift the freeze.  This allows means any fraudulent activity would not be able to occur.  Using this method does not negatively affect your credit nor keep you from obtaining a free copy of your report, or score.  If you are curious about your specific states guidelines on Credit Freezing click here.

Fraud Alert:  There are two types. Initial Alerts and Extended Alerts

Initial Alerts stays on your credit for a minimal of 90 days, usually used if you assume you have been or about be a victim of Id theft.  Examples are lost wallets, a possible online or mail order scam, missing or lost sensitive hardware (Cell phone or Laptop).  With this alert in place creditors must use what is referred to as “reasonable policies and procedures” by law to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name.  Although, it is a good step to take, this does not always alert your credit issuers the application may not be you.’

Extended Alerts are on your credit report seven years.  With this system, potential creditors must actually reach contact with you, or meet you in person before they are able to issue credit in your name. You are also entitled to two free credit reports within twelve months from each of the three credit reporting agencies.  Along with that, the reporting agencies will remove your name from any marketing lists for pre-qualified credit offers for five years unless asked otherwise.

Phishing: Pertaining to computing, phishing is a way of frequently swindling sensitive information, from usernames, passwords, addresses, credit cards by perpetrating a reputable or trustworthy entity (i.e. Banks, Myspace, Pay Pal, Credit Card companies etc).  Or at times simply using pop up messages, IM messages asking for specific information for specific companies or directing the users to false websites.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing: Allows users to share files online through an informal network of computers using similar or like software (i.e. Napster, Limewire, Morpheus).  These services can open doors to a mass of information by allowing users to contact multiple users at once on a single file.  Normally associated with downloaded copyrighted material but is sometimes embedded with malware, viruses and pornography.