Image via WikipediaNORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With another holiday shopping season upon us, IdentityHawk®, a leading identity protection service, provides 9 holiday shopping identity theft prevention tips. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is traditionally the most profitable part of the year for retailers; IdentityHawk is providing these tips so the holiday season isn’t the most profitable for identity thieves as well.
“During the holidays, consumers must exercise vigilance when shopping on, or offline. In addition, we can anticipate that online scams will only increase in the second half of 2011. We uncovered more than 104 million identity records stolen in the first six months of 2011 alone”
9 Holiday Shopping Identity Theft Prevention Tips
- Beware of skimming. Skimming happens when a store clerk takes your card and runs it through a device that copies the information from the magnetic strip. Once the thief has the identity information, they can use it to make purchases.
- Use cash or the same credit card for all your holiday buys. Credit cards have more protection associated with them than debit cards. Cash doesn’t have identity information associated with it.
- Check your credit card activity online regularly and often. Make sure all the transactions reported on your card were made by you. If you find any, immediately contact the card issuer to dispute the charge.
- Be careful using ATMs. Identity thieves can manipulate ATMs to cause an ATM card to become stuck inside of the machine - until the thief retrieves it. Often, thieves will hide a small camera near the ATM to extract the victim's PIN number. Gas pumps are also susceptible to this type of scam.
- Patronize secure websites. There are several ways that legitimate retailers indicate that transmittal of your credit card and other personal information is done safely using special technology that scrambles (encrypts) your details to thwart computer hackers.
- Look at the URL address. If it starts with "https," you'll know it's a secure site -- the "s" at the end of "http" stands for "secure." Otherwise, look for a closed padlock or an unbroken key in the browser window.
- Do business with reputable companies. Exercise some caution when dealing with a company you haven't heard of or done business with.
- Don't disclose more personal information than is necessary. For instance, never provide a Social Security number unless you're applying for credit. (The less your personal information is floating around cyberspace, the less chance it can be abused by identity thieves intent on charging their purchases to your name.)
- Keep personal passwords separate from shopping website passwords. Some websites require you to register, sign in and create a password to access or return to their site. Never use the same password you use for your personal computer, or on sensitive sites like your online bank account, on shopping websites.
Said Jeff Paradise, executive director of IdentityHawk, “During the holidays, consumers must exercise vigilance when shopping on, or offline. In addition, we can anticipate that online scams will only increase in the second half of 2011. We uncovered more than 104 million identity records stolen in the first six months of 2011 alone,” he said.
About IdentityHawk
IdentityHawk is a leading identity protection service that aggressively zeroes-in on potential threats to help consumers safeguard their identity. Members are warned of potential identity risks so they can take better control to stop fraud before it starts. IdentityHawk is a product of FYI Direct, Inc., a leader in direct-to-consumer credit and identity protection services. For more information, go towww.identityhawk.com.
