Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Part 7
by Michelle Black

Thanks for checking in again today for our latest identity theft prevention tip.  If you have not done so already, we would love for you to take the time to review parts 1 – 6 of this empowering blog series. The most effective way to combat identity theft is to be aware of the practices employed by scam artists and identity thieves.  Knowing what to do and what not to do in advance could save you a lot of heartache and help to avoid identity fraud before it has a chance to affect you!  Here is our next tip:

#7:  Don’t Put Checks in Your Mailbox.

Even if this sounds like overkill to you, it is strongly advised that you do not put checks in the mail from your home mailbox. Drop them off at a U.S. Mailbox or the U.S. Post Office. Mail theft is common. It is easy. All that a thief needs to do is steal your check (rent check, power bill check, cell phone bill check, etc.) and change the name of the recipient on the check with an acid wash. You can also pay your bills online via a secure website to further protect yourself from this type of fraud.

Shockingly, there are around 10 million victims of identity theft in the United States every single year! Following today’s tip, and previous tips from our Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft blog series will help you to drastically reduce you chances of being numbered among those victims. Don’t forget to check back with us soon for more tips and hints you can use to combat identity thieves.

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The HOPE staff would like to congratulate Mr. Melendez of Charlotte, NC today for his recent success and credit report improvement!  Since joining HOPE, Mr. Melendez has seen his credit scores go from zero on all 3 credit bureaus up to the 600s with all 3 credit bureaus! To top off this great success he has also had $3,527 in negative, unverifiable debt erased from his credit report!

Every week the HOPE Program is proud and thrilled to help our members achieve their dreams of healthier credit and home ownership.  It’s true that the economy has damaged the credit reports of many, many good people in our country.  However, the great news is that, even if your credit scores are low, you have the legal right to work to improve them! We at HOPE firmly believe that having bad credit does NOT make someone a bad person. It gives us great pleasure to help our members recover their good names!

For more information about the services offered by the HOPE Program we please email us or give us a call at 704-499-9696.  Our friendly staff is standing by to receive your call. We would love to show you how the HOPE Program can help you to achieve your clean credit goals!

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Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Part 6
by Michelle Black

I want to begin today by thanking our readers for their great positive feedback on our current blog series: Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft.  I especially want to give an extra big “thank you” to those readers who have taken the time to share these great tips with their friends and family members via email, Facebook and Twitter.  The best way to arm yourself and others against identity theft is by increasing awareness.  We at HOPE appreciate you sharing these articles with others and helping us to expose these scam artists before they have a chance to strike!

Continuing on the theme of identity theft, today I’m going to talk about a new, all too common scam that thieves are using online to take advantage of unsuspecting victims:

#6: Don’t Fall for Phishing Scams.
Wikipedia defines phishing as “a way of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.” In other words, identity thieves employ phishing techniques by trying to get you to reveal your personal information online – via email, chat, or social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.).  The would be thieves will often pose as your bank, credit card company, PayPal, a charity or even a sweepstakes give-away and will try to get you to respond with personal information or click on a link.  Don’t do it! I repeat – do not reply or even click on a link included in the email or instant message.  In fact, you can even go one step further (I know I do) and refuse to open any emails unless they come from someone (or some business) that you know.  In other words, if the subject line of your email reads “Congratulations! You’ve Won a Free Vacation!” you want to go ahead and click the delete button – fast!

Be sure to check back with us soon for tip #7 on avoiding identity fraud.  Remember, if you enjoyed today’s tip, please feel free to share it (using our easy “share” buttons below) with your friends and family.  Thanks again for helping HOPE to spread awareness about the tactics of identity thieves!

If you or a loved one has been a victim of identity fraud the credit experts at HOPE would love to assist you in regaining your good name.  Please give us a call at 704-499-9696 and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have plus give you more information about the services offered by HOPE.

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Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Part 5
by Michelle Black

There are few things I hate more than identity fraud.  I have seen identity thieves wreak tremendous havoc on the lives of good, innocent people.  Thankfully, during my years working at HOPE, I have also seen our team of credit experts help many, many people overcome identity fraud and take back their good names.  Unfortunately, even with professional assistance, it takes time to undo the damage that an identity thief causes to a credit report.  That is why I am continuing this week to share even more ways that you can protect yourself and hopefully keep from ever becoming a victim of identity theft in the first place!  On that note, here is my next tip:

#5:  Never Leave Personal Information in Your Car.

“Car prowling” is another common way identity thieves target their victims.  You should never leave your checkbook, wallet, purse, credit cards, credit card purchase receipts, social security card, credit card statements, or any other personal information in your vehicle.  If an identity thief gets their hands on any of these items you could be in serious trouble.  So, don’t make it any easier for the dishonest to abuse you!  Lock up these personal items in your home or keep them on your person at all times.

There are still more tips to come so check back with us again this week! By the end of this blog series you too can be an expert at preventing identity fraud.  Plus, you can help to increase awareness regarding one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States by “tweeting,” emailing, or sharing a link to this article with your online friends.  Our easy to use “share” buttons below make this easier than ever.

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Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Part 4
by Michelle Black

According to Wikipedia, “Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name.”  As you know, identity theft can utterly destroy a person’s credit scores.  That’s why it is so important to protect yourself from this new and constantly growing form of fraud.  Today’s tip for protecting yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft is:

#4: Don’t Give Personal Information on the Phone Unless YOU Initiated the Call!
Scam artists and identity thieves would love to steal your credit card numbers, passwords, mother’s maiden names, and social security numbers.  Thieves often pretend to be bank representatives, collection agents, government officials, and even police officers in order to steal from the unsuspecting.  To give you an example, a HOPE member recently had a member of a collection agency call her and pose as a detective. The collection agent tried to get the member’s credit card number over the phone in order to “verify” her identity. Luckily the HOPE member stopped right there and hung up and called one of our HOPE Credit Experts. We were able to help her report the attempted fraud and avoid being subjected to unauthorized charges.

Feel free to stop back by our website all this week for more tips and hints on how you can protect yourself from identity fraud.  Educating yourself to the danger of identity fraud is the first step.  Don’t forget to share these articles with your online friends and family too by using our easy “share” buttons below.  Knowledge is power! We would love for you to help empower someone else today.

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