ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The Better Business Bureau is warning communities about identity theft scams and ways to protect yourself during identity theft awareness week.
It is important to understand how identity theft scams work:
A successful scam can result in the theft of your identity and/or personal information, as well as someone pretending to be you while committing a crime. Scammers can take out loans and credit cards to withdraw money from personal bank accounts or sell your personal information to data brokers over the web.
Compromises to your identity can take a while to detect as scammers usually take precautions to cover their tracks. They can cause major damage to assets, credit, and reputation.
Tips to spot identity theft include:
- Look for unexplained withdrawals, charges, and accounts. It is important to check your bank accounts and credit card statements regularly and to know when your bills are due.
- Check your credit reports regularly for unauthorized inquiries and accounts. You can check your credit report.
Learn more about how to spot a scam here.
To protect yourself against an identity theft scam, consider the following:
- Be careful with your personal information. It is important to shred important documents that include social security, social insurance numbers, bank account information, or other personal information.
- Secure personal documents at home. It is important to store personal documents where others cannot obtain them, for example, under lock and key. Make sure documents are not out in the open.
- Be alert to phishing attempts. Scammers can use clever tactics and try to scam you through attempts via email, text, social media messages, or phone calls. It is important to know the difference in a phishing scam and be on alert.
IF you would like to report suspected scams, you can use the BBB Scam Tracker here.
Protecting yourself against hackers is another important key in the protection of personal information.
- Ensure you use strong passwords
- Change passwords frequently
- Use different passwords for each online account or website
- Avoid using birthdays, child’s name, mother’s maiden name etc.
- Add an extra layer of protection by using other forms of verification
- Do not click on suspicious links or download attachments from unknown senders
Do you think your identity has been stolen? Follow the recommended steps here to secure your personal identification.
To learn more on how to protect yourself from identity theft and precautionary measures, click here.