Protection Against Identity Theft: What You Can Do
My brother's identity was stolen a few years ago. In less than a week, four different $300 charges materialized on his credit and his bank didn't make it easy for him to drop those items from his account. This time around wasn't too problematic, because the bank finally sided with my brother, cancelled the extra charges and gave him new numbers for his account.
The horrifying thing about the whole experience was just knowing that there was someone out there claiming to be my brother, armed with just enough personal and financial data to get into big trouble.
My brother thankfully resolved the trouble with the bank. His credit still gets poked by mysterious charges every now and then. My brother was incredibly lucky.
Identity theft is the scariest Internet crime. It costs millions of dollars to millions of people worldwide every year and soaks up hours upon hours of frustrating phone calls to halt payment on fraudulent purchases. In the past few years, several businesses have sprung up to help protect consumers all over the world, taking advantage of fear to scrape together a load of cash. You can even join in for a monthly fee.
No Tracking On Services
Protection against identity theft is not customer friendly; there is no possible way for customers to see how effective these service providers really are, or if they are improving computer security at all.
Most companies center their efforts around checking your credit score regularly so no charges can slip past you without you being aware of its presence. There's nothing complicated about reading your credit report -- you could do it too, for much cheaper, I might add. So, not counting this, what exactly do these businesses do?
That question is impossible to answer, which is the most frustrating thing about these protective services. You have to take their word for it and assume you are somehow safer. Obviously, this can cause friction between the customer and the business. Protection against identity theft can only be measured by whether or not your identity has been stolen since beginning the use of their product. If your identity isn't stolen, that means their efforts helped, right?
No. There are no guarantees.
Zero Features For Lots Of Money
Pricing for protective services changes heartily from service to service depending on what they claim to do for you. There is no business out in Internet Land who explicitly states what they do and for how much and which ones are premium and which are not. Just about everything -- yes, everything -- these companies do for you, you can easily do on your own. For free.
Protection against identity theft is crucial to maintaining your financial security, but throwing money at strangers to read your credit report just doesn't make sense in the long run. - 23211
The horrifying thing about the whole experience was just knowing that there was someone out there claiming to be my brother, armed with just enough personal and financial data to get into big trouble.
My brother thankfully resolved the trouble with the bank. His credit still gets poked by mysterious charges every now and then. My brother was incredibly lucky.
Identity theft is the scariest Internet crime. It costs millions of dollars to millions of people worldwide every year and soaks up hours upon hours of frustrating phone calls to halt payment on fraudulent purchases. In the past few years, several businesses have sprung up to help protect consumers all over the world, taking advantage of fear to scrape together a load of cash. You can even join in for a monthly fee.
No Tracking On Services
Protection against identity theft is not customer friendly; there is no possible way for customers to see how effective these service providers really are, or if they are improving computer security at all.
Most companies center their efforts around checking your credit score regularly so no charges can slip past you without you being aware of its presence. There's nothing complicated about reading your credit report -- you could do it too, for much cheaper, I might add. So, not counting this, what exactly do these businesses do?
That question is impossible to answer, which is the most frustrating thing about these protective services. You have to take their word for it and assume you are somehow safer. Obviously, this can cause friction between the customer and the business. Protection against identity theft can only be measured by whether or not your identity has been stolen since beginning the use of their product. If your identity isn't stolen, that means their efforts helped, right?
No. There are no guarantees.
Zero Features For Lots Of Money
Pricing for protective services changes heartily from service to service depending on what they claim to do for you. There is no business out in Internet Land who explicitly states what they do and for how much and which ones are premium and which are not. Just about everything -- yes, everything -- these companies do for you, you can easily do on your own. For free.
Protection against identity theft is crucial to maintaining your financial security, but throwing money at strangers to read your credit report just doesn't make sense in the long run. - 23211
About the Author:
Make your info safe, use identity theft prevention techniques to stay safe even when reviewing financials online. Do a little digging and get as much info as you can about which services one can purchase and how you can have protection against identity theft. Only take serious advice from trusted sites and avoid scams and fraudulent claims.
posted by X - Men @ 7:24 AM
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