Stealing your personal info right from your personal computer or your smart phone is scarily simple these days and very effective. Users must learn to protect themselves from identity theft if they do not want to get their info in the wrong hands.

If you think document shredding is enough measure taken to protect yourself from identity theft then you are absolutely wrong, because thieves are smarter and have found new ways to rip you. According to the recent data released by the Federal Trade Commission, 9 million Americans have fallen prey to identity thieves in the year 2010. So, it is better you start taking apt measures if you do not want to fall victim too. Here is how you can protect yourself against identity thieves and their frauds.

Scams, their working mechanism and how to protect yourself

  • The scam-Trolling your social networking account
  • Working Mechanism:

Hackers and identity thieves check your social networking accounts like Facebook, Twitter LinkedIN accounts for any personal info they can get to search for your name, phone number, address etc. When they get these info from your social networking account they can apply for a change of address and can get all your mails sent to their postal address. Using the info you post online on your social networking sites, thieves can figure out your passwords which can be your name or your kid’s or pet’s name ect, which most of the people use as passwords. Once they have all the info about you, it becomes very easy for them to draw money from your bank account.

  • Protecting yourself

Never over share your info especially on social networking sites where everybody can access your personal info. Do not put your date of birth or your hometown and phone number on your social networking site. What identity thieves can do with those details can be even scary to know. A research showed that social security number of a person can be deduced by just knowing the date of birth and place of birth of a person. Once these thieves know your social security number, everything is possible like credit card access, obtaining a loan from your bank using your name too. So, what you can do to protect yourself from these thieves is check your account settings of social networking sites. Set all of your privacy preferences to “Friends Only” but your personal info should be set as “Only Me”. You also must turn off the settings that allow your friends to share your personal info without your consent.

  • The Scam-Smart phone sniffer apps
  • Working Mechanism

It is only natural to download an app that catches your attention, so you wait no second to download it. Little that users know that they have provided the ID thieves their personal info. Some apps can be used for spyware installation and lifting sensitive info from the user’s mobile phones. These identity thieves can even capture your keystrokes. They create phony apps like the free games which tempt the users to download them. The hackers take this to their advantage and record every letter and number that is typed the user from passwords to numbers of the credit card. And when you use your smart phone to shop online or for mobile banking, you fall prey to them.

  • Protecting yourself

It is a difficult task to differentiate between a safe and unsafe app. However users can notice some signs of a bad app like the phone’s battery life reducing, phone operates slowly that usual. To avoid these kind of bad apps download apps always from well known app stores only like your phone’s original app stores only. In case you do not recognize an app, search for its authenticity from the internet and read user reviews.

Apple iPhone users have more protection as Apple scrutinizes the apps before it adds them to the iTunes. However, Android users need to be aware of the apps they download because apps available in Android market are place by third party manufacturers and Android does not check them so users are all on their own.

Users need to be aware of the tempting advertisements and should block the pop ups that try to entice the users with free apps which may be fraud.

  • The Scam-Hacking through Public Wi-Fi networks.
  • Working Mechanism

The free public Wi-Fi hotspots are increasing in number and these days you can find them everywhere like airports, hotels, restaurants, gas filling stations etc. It tempts you to use them but remember they are not safe. If you go online using these free public Wi-Fi connections, identity thieves using the same connections can hack your personal computer  or phone and use the personal info you have stores in these devices.

  • Protecting Yourself

When you are way from home avoid using these wireless connections especially the free ones that are not password protected anybody can use them. Do not use them to even check your email. When a network is not password protected it means that it is not encrypted and so it becomes easy for the hackers to get access to your personal computer or phone that you use on these public hot spots. If you are out of home or office where you have a encrypted internet connection, and you have to urgently use internet for business or personal matters then use your smart phone’s 3G or 4G connection for accessing the internet as they are more  secure and it is not easy for hackers to break into your system that easily.

If you do not wish to use your phone then use your laptop’s VPN which is encrypted and so offers you protection when you browse online.

This how you can avoid getting scammed and protect yourself against identity theft.