For the last few years there have been a number of con artists who have been making
people's lives a misery by stealing their identity and running up thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt in their name.
However, like many I'm sure you would never get caught out like that - or would you? Do think that the people who have their identity stolen are making it up or are so dumb that they probably made it easy for the thieves who stole from them?
Well prepare to be shocked. It is often some of the most careful and credit conscious people who get caught out by these thieving con men and con women. Now logic says it should not happen that if you keep an eye on your credit rating you will be among the people who get ripped off.
Let me explain how the credit report scam works, and you will soon see why it is possible for it to happen.
We will take a case of someone who is careful about maintaining their good credit rating and who is security conscious. They like to get hold of their credit report every year so that they can go through it and check that all the details are correct. They make sure no typos have occurred that will cause them problems when they next apply for a mortgage or an auto loan, etc.
All sounds ok so far don't it?
Well maybe, but we've already passed the point where the scammers would be lurking, watching out for the unwary. That point was when our credit a conscious friend above got hold of their credit report.
When you decide to get a copy of your credit report it is essential that you check out the website you are requesting it from. That's because the scammers usually set up a very professional looking site which all seems a board and legitimate, and they offer a free credit report. After that it's just a case of waiting for the unwary.
If you haven't checked out the site you will fill out the report with all the details you would expect to fill out on any legitimate site. Things such as:
Full name
Address
Date of birth
Social security number
They might even ask for details of existing credit cards, etc.
Now when you look at that can you see how easy it is for them to run a credit report scam and then simply walk off with all the details, they would need to steal your identity?