Avoid Identity Theft In Several Simple Steps

The Better Business Bureau and the FCC are warning consumers about telephone calls from phony debt collectors. In the past couple of months, there has been an outbreak of fraudulent calls from phony debt collectors attempting to solicit private information for the purposes of identity theft.

According to the website EveryCall.us, there has been a giant increase in consumers reporting harassing calls from companies like NCO Financial Systems which call repeatedly throughout the day requesting personal information about friends and family members. It is unclear if these calls are legitimate or not, but experts warn to ensure the legitimacy of the caller before surrendering any personal information. Consumers have reported telephone calls from literally hundreds of other purported debt collection organizations, many of which have a poor rating with the BBB or simply do not exist and are front companies for scam artists to commit fraud.

One recommendation is to ask the caller to call them back and then perform a search of the telephone number of the caller. That way you can review what others have said about the caller to help you confirm if they are a true agency or not.

Do not give out any financial information or other personal information. This may seem obvious to many, but you would be surprised how convincing some of these callers can be. For instance many callers claim to be your bank and can easily sound like they are legitimate when in fact they are not.

The Better Business Bureau recommends that you demand they prove the legitimacy of the debt they are collecting by US postal mail.

The next time you'receive a telemarketing call or debt collection call, we hope that this article has helped you with some tips to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. It is important to be skeptical of any telephone calls you'receive until you confirm the identity of the caller.