Washington DC Identity Theft – How Does It Occur?
Identity thieves steal your personal information, credit card numbers, or other financial information to steal money, goods, and services without your knowledge.
Their methods can range from elementary to technically complex including the following:
- Stealing your wallet and using your credit cards
- Stealing your credit card mail and requesting a change of address to that of the identity thief
- Dumpster diving: stealing sensitive mail like convenience checks from your garbage
- Telemarketing: Using unscrupulous telemarketing schemes that get you to give them your personal information over the phone
- Skimming: using digital cameras or other devices to capture your credit card information
- Phishing: Tricking you into entering your personal information under the mistaken belief that you are answering an official email from your bank
- Pharming: Redirecting you from legitimate commercial websites to counterfeit web pages to trick your into disclosing financial and personal information
Steps you can take to prevent ID theft in Washington, DC
Elaborate cyber-swindles, like pharming and phishing, can devastate thousands of people at once. Because we are all vulnerable to identity theft, we must take the following kinds of precautions to guard against becoming the next identity theft victim:
- Do not carry your social security number or print it on checks
- Shred any credit card mail and preapproved loan offers
- Order your credit report and review it for accuracy
- Go online to bank and credit card sites to check that you made all of the charges
- Do not reply to pop-up or spam messages on your computer or open attachments and downloads
- Only give personal information over the phone if you initiated the call or can verify that the number calling you is official
- Know what credit cards and IDs are in your wallet and notify the banks and police right away if your wallet is stolen
Why you need qualified identity theft attorneys
Identity theft is a very serious crime that merits decisive action, ideally by an experienced identity theft lawyer. The skilled Reston identity theft attorneys at Blankingship & Christiano, P.C. can provide you with identity theft help in Washington DC from credit report disputes to litigation in Northern Virginia. Each Blankingship & Christiano, P.C. identity theft attorney is knowledgeable about federal and state statutes prohibiting ID theft, and the best legal strategies for resolving even the most complicated cases.
While you can notify the three credit bureaus and banks on your own, when clients bring their issues to our skilled identity theft lawyers, we work hard to do effective damage control and produce satisfactory results.
Contact a skilled ID theft lawyer
If you are the victim of identity theft fraud or a credit report dispute in Virginia or Washington, DC, bring your case to a Reston identify theft lawyer at Blankingship & Christiano, P.C. Contact us at 703-483-9801 or online to discuss your case.
