Our Articles

Identity Theft Articles

Glossary of Identity Theft Terms and Definitions

3-in-1 Credit Report
When you encounter id theft, you will want an immediate credit report from all three credit bureaus. While some people argue that one bureau covers all three, it must be remembered that some credit accounts don’t deal with all three, so having a copy of all three is the best deal for you.

Account Takeover
This is what happens when the id thief gains access to your accounts using privileged information they were able to pilfer or steal. The thief will then proceed to make unauthorized transactions that you must stop at all costs.

Affidavit of Factual Innocence
This is a document that states that you declare yourself innocent of any wrongful acts/or any acts at all committed using your accounts. You will need this document when dealing with the institutions with which you will want to dispute transactions made in your name by unauthorized personnel.

Affidavit of Forgery
A declaration that the signature in question is a forgery of yours.

Check washing
This is a technique by which id thieves wash off the ink on a check so that they may replace the value with a higher one.

Credit fraud
Credit fraud is one of crimes committed by identity thieves. This typically involves the use of your credit card without your permission or knowledge.

Credit reporting agency (CRA)
These are agencies that have a record of your credit records and transactions: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They give these records to institutions that can legally procure these documents.

DL stop (drivers’ license stop)
A DL stop puts a flag on your driver’s license to indicate that your license is either lost or stolen.

Dumpster Diving
Take care of what you throw in your trash. Many id thieves sift through them to find valuable information they can use to commit credit fraud and other id theft.

To avoid having people pick up valuable information from your trash, you could use a shredder to keep sensitive information safe. Always review material before relegating them to the waste basket.

Fraud alert
A fraud alert is a warning you can report to the major credit bureaus to make sure they are aware that your account has been tampered with and is being used without your permission. This leads them to either close the account or notify you whenever there is any activity within these accounts.

Identity fraud
This differs from identity theft in the sense that it uses identities that are made up and not real.

Identity theft
The use of someone else's information to access privileged accounts in that person’s name – resulting in financial and even criminal activity. This activity will ultimately be pegged on the person whose identity was stolen.

The most common information that is stolen includes passwords, account information, identification cards, driver’s license, and other information.

PIN (Personal Identification Number)
This is your personal password for many of the identity-sensitive transactions around. If you can, make sure you change this from time to time and change them immediately if you suspect that anyone is using your accounts.

Shoulder surfing
A means of learning your PIN by peering over your shoulder. To avoid this, never allow anyone to get close to you while you are accessing anything using your PIN. Have other people keep a distance of two or more meters when using an ATM machine.

Skimming
Some dishonest people have their own swiping machines which get first crack at your credit card before the official swiping machines. This is one of the means used by credit thieves to steal the use of your credit card.The best way to avoid this is to swipe the card yourself, or at least be able to view the card as it is being swiped.

Victim’s statement
Another document you may need when making a fraud dispute with a credit company. Use this along with police reports, Affidavit of Innocence, and others to make your case. Credit theft is a very serious crime and merits quite a heavy punishment – and only rightfully so. Avoid having to go through the pain of dealing with such by taking the appropriate measures to keep your information safe. Remember safe is always better than sorry.