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 Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft
The following information is provided by the Federal Trade Commission.
 You
can help protect your identity by learning how to deter, detect, and
defend against identity theft. While there are no guarantees about
avoiding identity theft, there are steps you can take to minimize your
risk and minimize the damage if a problem occurs:
- Deter identity
thieves by safeguarding your information.
- Detect suspicious
activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing
statements.
- Defend against
ID theft as soon as you suspect a problem.
Identity theft is a serious crime. How does it happen? Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without
your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. While you can't entirely
control whether you will become a victim, there are steps you can take
to minimize your risk. If you think your
identity has been stolen, here's what to do:*
- Contact the fraud
departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian,
and TransUnion — to place a fraud alert on your credit report.
The fraud alert tells creditors to contact you before opening any new
accounts
or making
any changes to your existing accounts. You only need to contact one of
the three companies to place an alert. The company you call is required
to contact the other two, which will place an alert on their versions
of your report, too. Once you place the fraud alert in your file, you're
entitled to order free copies of your credit reports, and, if you ask,
only the last four digits of your Social Security number will appear
on your credit reports.
- Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with
or opened fraudulently. Use the ID
Theft Affidavit when disputing new
unauthorized accounts.
- File a report with your local police or the police in the community
where the identity theft took place. Get a copy of the report or at the
very least, the number of the report, to submit to your creditors and
others that may require proof of the crime.
- File
your complaint with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity
theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. Filing
a complaint also helps the agency learn more about identity theft and
the problems victims are having so that it can better assist you.
View or print an easy-to-follow
brochure on how to Deter, Detect, and
Defend against identity theft.
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The links on this page are provided to help
find additional information on various other commercial and private organizations'
web sites. These links are maintained solely for the user's information
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that Haddon Savings Bank does not control and cannot guarantee the content,
relevance, timeliness or accuracy of outside information. Further, the
inclusion of links to particular items is not intended to reflect their
importance, nor is it intended to constitute approval or endorsement of
any views expressed or implied, or products or services offered. For more
information, please contact postmaster@haddonsavings.com. |
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News Get your Haddon
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