Identity Theft Can Happen Even If You Do All the Right Things

Many East Coasters know of New Jersey as one of the last states in the union where full-service gas stations still exist. However, that can sometimes be a detriment. At least in one case, in Florence, NJ, gasoline customers unknowingly put their credit cards right in the hand of an identity thief when they paid at the pump.

Writer Stephanie Prokop detailed in November 25th’s Princeton Packet how an attendant at a Wawa gas station carried a hand-held scanner to steal patrons’ credit card information in his jacket pocket. His illegal activity allowed him to garner the account information for at least 40 people, according to local police.

This is just another example of how identity theft can happen to you even if you do all of the right things as far as protecting your credit information online and over the Internet. Obviously, if you live in New Jersey and drive a car you can’t just stop purchasing gas and there may be times when you don’t have enough cash on you and will have to pay with a credit card.

Plus, as time goes on, technology is getting better and thieves are getting savvier. In fact, some thieves don’t even have to use handheld scanners. Instead, they install the scanners right onto the pumps, and they can be so well hidden that consumers don’t notice when they swipe their credit cards through.

Instead of walking or taking the bus to work to avoid going to the gas station, a better way to safeguard your funds is to look into credit protection. To prevent a situation such as this one from harming your credit and eventually your options for future loans, a credit monitoring service could be the way to go, or even a credit freeze.

Credit monitoring services allow you to get updates on your credit status as often as daily to alert you to any unusual activity that is discovered. And, yes, a sudden charge of $1,000 at the local Wawa, or a much larger charge at the Cadillac dealer down the road from said Wawa, would surely be flagged as unusual. Credit freezing makes it so no one can access your credit file, such as to open new, fraudulent accounts or to raise your credit limit, without your expressed consent via a personal identification number known only to you.

If you don’t know much about identity theft protection or how to go about purchasing it, not to worry. There are sources available to you that can explain all of the ins and outs, such as this website, of course. Take your time to search through the plans available to find one that’s right for you. Identity theft protection is an important investment, one that will help to provide you, and your family, with a healthy financial future.

Identity thieves, like the gas station attendant who is currently in jail, will come and go. As some get arrested, and hopefully prosecuted, there will constantly be others to take their places. The burden of keeping safe lies with the consumer and how you take that responsibility is up to you.