Fred Harteis News Articles - When your personal info is stolen

Fred Harteis News Articles - No one's immune from the aggravations of potential identity theft.

The latest reminder of this was Soccial Security numbers and other valuable personal data of nearly 27 million veterans was stolen in a burglary at the home of a Department of Veteran Affairs analyst.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said that authorities think the intention of the burglary wasn't to steal the personal data, and that thus far there is no indication ID theft has resulted from the incident.

Last year, millions of employees and consumers were told that their personal information was lost or had been stolen. And early reports then also indicated no identity theft had resulted from the breaches at that time. Or the mass of data may be so overwhelming that the chance of your identity being stolen could be 1 in 27 million, which makes only the most paranoid worried.

The annoying thing is you just don't know. And you never will. But if you are concerned your personal information has fallen into the wrong hands, there are steps you can take to prevent it from being used fraudulently.

Monitor your accounts for any irregularities over the next few years. Sheila Gordon, director of victim services at the Identity Theft Resource Center, recommends that you:

Check your annual earnings statement from the Social Security Administration and make sure it squares with the money you've earned this year.

Check your 401(k) account periodically to make sure no one has cashed out or rolled over any of your balance.

Check notices from the IRS that indicate you haven't paid taxes on certain earnings, which may indicate someone is working under your Social Security number
Check your credit report for any new loans (e.g., home, car, school) taken out in your name or new credit card accounts you didn't open.

Put a fraud alert on your credit reports. A fraud alert tells companies that they should call you to verify your identity whenever they check your credit report with the intention of opening an account in your name or making any changes to an existing one.

So, for example, if someone is fraudulently trying to set up a cell phone account in your name, the creditor will call you first.

Put a fraud alert on your credit reports at all three credit bureaus -- Equifax (800-525-6285), Experian (888-397-3742) and TransUnion (800-680-7289).

It's a relatively quick process that you can do by phone via the credit bureaus' automated systems.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.