The Sewing Mom

My husband recently experienced having invalid charges on his credit card, the one he always uses strictly for business travel. He discovered the problem when he attempted to buy airline tickets through an online travel service and his card was not accepted. Turns out, the bank the card is issued through had frozen his account due to suspicious charges, over $600 worth, that took place in eastern Europe. Since my husband had forgotten to update his phone number on the account after we relocated, the bank was unable to notify him. It’s all been straightened out now and he’s not being held responsible for those charges, but it’s very scary how easily someone can get an account number.

We’re lucky that it only got that far. There is always the very real  threat of identity theft.

Did you know that you can get a free copy of your credit report annually? It’s a great idea to monitor your credit and not wait until something bad happens. Don’t be fooled either by companies touting to give you a free credit report, but the only way you can get it is by signing up and paying for one of their services. I don’t know about you, but that’s not free to me. New York Times bestselling author, Bob Sullivan, wrote an article on this very topic warning consumers about freecreditreport.com. This company, owned by Experian, offers “free” credit reports, but makes you pay a monthly service fee for their identity theft protection in order to get them.

If I’m going to pay anyone for identity theft protection, it’s going to be lifelock, who not only promises a real solution, they guarantee it. So, don’t be confused by all those singing commercials using an actor to play the part of someone who’s identity was supposedly stolen. Make smart decisions and choices when it comes to protecting your identity.

Recently I’ve begun selling some of my fabric bags from my website. During these transactions, there is quite a bit of personal information exchanged. This can be cause for concern, and I’m glad there are payment services out there that can handle the payment part of the transaction and keep that safe. I hate having to think about fraud whenever there is a transaction, but I think that comes with the territory.

Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in people and believe that people purchasing my products are good people. However, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, I do know that bad things happen and I do what I can to protect myself. One way to do that is by using the services of life lock for identity theft protection. I believe it’s important to protect my good name after all.

What do you do to protect your identity?

So, I’m walking along, minding my own business when it happens. “Oh look! Someone has dropped their wallet right here in the middle of the sidewalk!” I open the wallet only to find the identification of one of the most famous quilters of all time! I begin looking around to see if the lady who owns this wallet is around and I don’t see anyone, not a single person. Where is everybody? What will I do with this wallet?

I begin looking further in the wallet and I discover credit cards as well as the driver’s license. Just think of all the wonderful quilting supplies I could go buy at my favorite quilt shops! I feel lucky that I’ve found this wallet just in time to attend the Paducah Quilt Show later this month! I’m thinking, I look an awful lot like this lady, even if I’m only a beginning quilter and she’s an expert, but maybe I can pass myself off as her! With the credit cards, I can even buy my own plane ticket and book my hotel.

What do you think, can you guess who I’d be impersonating?

  Truthfully, I would only open the wallet to find out who it belonged to. I would also hope that whoever it belonged to knew the importance of identity theft protection such as life lock for their own safety.What would you do if you found someone’s wallet?