Telemarketing Scams

Unless you are ex-directory, your name and telephone number appears automatically on telephone marketing lists.  This means that you could receive a number of telemarketing calls from third parties who have access to the list, and this can range from people trying to sell you goods and services through to harmful scam calls that are used by fraudsters to try and trick you into revealing your sensitive personal information or to hand over money.  Common scams include fraudsters pretending to be from legitimate financial services calling to ‘confirm’ your account details, or those pretending to offer fantastic deals on goods, services or investments, which in reality are fake and once you have handed over your money you get nothing in return (identity theft reviews).

You can get you name and number removed from telemarketing lists by contacting the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry, and once you have registered your number telemarketers are required under legislation to remove your details from their calling lists within 31 days, and you should start to see a significant decline in the number of telemarketing calls soon after registering.

Junk Mail Scams

Fraudsters commonly use consumer mailing lists to send out scams, and this can include fake advertisements for goods or services such as brochures, special offers and leaflets, and also fake charity donation requests.  If you reply to these scams you will often get nothing in return for any money you send, and you will also run the risk of having the personal information you supply misused by identity thieves in order to run up charges on your existing account or fraudulently apply for new accounts in your name.

There are a number of ways in which you can protect yourself from identity fraudsters, and help to reduce the risks of becoming a victim of these types of crimes.

Money Management
It is important that you manage your own financial accounts carefully, and make sure you check through your statements each month in order to ensure all of the charges are genuine.  This will help you spot any suspicious activity as soon as possible, which can help to limit any damages caused by identity thieves.  If you are inexperienced at handling money, credit cards or bank accounts then make sure you get as much help as you can from your provider about the safe and secure ways in which to handle your money, and visit their websites for advice on how to protect the account information in your care.

Request For Personal Information
You should take any requests for personal information made via the telephone, email or mail systems as very serious, and only respond to them if you can absolutely guarantee that the request is genuine, and that the recipient will handle your information securely.

Identity Theft protection Services
Services such as TrustedID, LifeLock, Identity Guard and ID Patrol all provide additional security measures to help protect you and your family from identity fraudsters and also offer full recovery services just in case you do become a victim, which can include financial protection against any legal fees and other costs and support from identity theft resolution specialists.