Lionheart Assurance Solutions educates company managers and their staff members about what identity theft is and how it works. Identity theft can happen in many ways, but here are the two most common: either a thief fraudulently uses your name or takes over your financial account(s). If your name is used for fraud, a thief uses your social security number and/or other personal information to open up bank accounts, credit cards, or obtain financial loans, among other possibilities. If a thief takes over your account, they may use your credit card or your credit card information to make purchases. Usually, you only become aware that you’re a victim of identity theft when pressed for payment by a creditor or accused of a civil or criminal offense by the authorities.
Lionheart Assurance notes that identity thieves can steal your identity in five main ways:
1. Scammers can go through your trash or dumpster and find bills and personal documents with sensitive information on it.
2. Scammers use an electronic device to record your credit or debit card information when you are making a purchase like buying gas at a pump or a consumer product over a counter. Sales clerks working for a retail establishment, usually Mom and Pop stores that don’t have security cameras, use these storage devices for nefarious purposes.
3. Scammers send emails that are purportedly from a financial institution. These claim that you have a problem with your account and need to log in to verify that your funds are in order. This is called phishing, a technique used to discover your username and password.
4. Scammers divert your billing statements to their address by filling in an online or offline change of address form.
5. Scammers steal your purse or wallet or rummage through employee or customer files in a company to get your personal information.
The Lionheart Assurance Scam Prevention Toolkit Also Warns Of Another Con Trick
Sometimes thieves may pretend to be you, visiting your financial institution and asking to be reminded about account information. Usually, they present some form of proof, like a fake driver’s license to fool the customer representative.
Lionheart Assurance is a business solutions firm who has been in business since 1997. In 2009, Lionheart Assurance launched the Lionheart Assurance Scam Prevention Toolkit to increase awareness of scams perpetrated by identity thieves.