Attorney's ADVICE - NO
CHARGE
Not A
Joke!! If you dislike
attorneys..... You will love them for these
tips.
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer
to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney
sent the following out to the employees in his company.
1.
Do not
sign the back of your
credit
cards . Instead, put
'PHOTO ID
REQUIRED.'
2. When you
are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,
DO
NOT put the complete
account
number on the 'For' line.
Instead, just put the last four
numbers. The credit card
company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your
check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access
to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home
phone. If you have a
4. Place the contents of your
wallet on a
< SPAN style="COLOR:
red">photocopy machine . Do both sides of
each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and
all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the
photocopy in a safe place.
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I
travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's
committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit
cards.
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because
my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(S) ordered an
expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a
credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV
to change my driving record information online, and more.
But here's some
critical information to limit the
damage in case this happens
to you or someone you know:
5. We have been told we should
cancel our
credit
cards immediately. But the
key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom
to call. Keep those where you can find them.
6.
File a
police
report immediately in the
jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., was stolen. This proves to credit
providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation
(if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps
most important of
all: (I never even thought
to do this.)
7. Call the
3 national credit
reporting organizations immediately to place a
fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I
had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an
application for credit was made over the internet in my name.
The alert means
any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they
have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
By the time I was
advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been
done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves'
purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no
additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this
weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their
tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your
wallet, if it has been stolen:
1.) Equifax:
1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3.)
Trans
4.) Social
Security Administration (fraud
line):
1-800-269-0271
We pass along
jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.
If you are
willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you
care about.