Tony here,
I was surprised how little people really know about identity theft and how to protect your identity from being stolen or abused. Identity theft is the unlawful use of someone else’s personal information, for example, your name, drivers license, social security number, credit cards and other personal identifiable information to commit fraud and commit various other crimes. Most times criminals will use your personal information to obtain a line of credit through banks or credit card companies and use it to purchase various items, open a telephone account, or obtain leases. The effect of this on you can be, loss of job opportunities or make it harder to get a loan at any financial institution etc.
Identity Theft Facts
(1) The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) estimates about 9 million Americas have their identities stolen every year.
(2) Identity theft is serious and can create a host of financial and liability problems.
(3) Can last for years and can be extremely difficult to fix on your credit report.
(4) Limits your credit worthiness, and put you in a severe financial and emotional jeopardy in many extreme cases implicate you in criminal wrongdoing, all without you knowing what happen or where it came from.
(5) Comes in many different forms and is increasingly used in more sophisticated ways as ID theft becomes more rampant and criminals deliver more clever tactics to use your information.
Forms of ID Theft/Fraud
Here are some common forms of ID theft:
Financial/Bank ID theft
The most common and notorious use of many stolen identities is to take advantage of someone’s credit worthiness and apply for and receive financial benefits from that persons financial standing. Such as– creating bank accounts under the victims ID, applying for credit cards and checks, making withdrawals under the assumed name, and even reroute financial statements to a new address, obtain a loan etc.
Identity and Concealment Fraud
Another one of the major abuses of ID theft is stealing someone’s personal information with the intent of concealment and evading arrest from law enforcement, hide from creditors or work illegally in a foreign country. The idea behind this kind of ID theft is to hijack someone’s else’s identity and use it as their own and to obtain fraudulent documents to present to authorities to avoid implication in a crime.
Medical ID Theft
This occurs when someone uses your information to obtain medical services and treatment. Your medical insurance information can also be used also and perpetrators will seek to make up information that is then added to your medical records.
How To Protect Yourself From ID Theft/Fraud
Its said the best form of ID theft protection is done by "not identifying at all". Well that is easier said than done. Hey lets face it, how can you possibly keep up with everything you signed up for, wrote a check too, filled out a survey, making sure you are not overheard giving out private information and most identity theft is done by people stealing your mail, unless you use a secure mailbox of course, and even that is no guarantee. It certainly can get insane when we think of all the clever means criminals have to steal your information and those attempts are getting more sophisticated by the day.
Can you or I possibly manage or monitor every attempt at hijacking our identities, our good names, reputation, and thing we have worked so hard over many years.
The answer is no!
One way that is recommended is to make sure your computer security software is updated and you’re not exposing yourself online and you are following basic security steps towards identity fraud prevention.
Well how safe is that? As a avid computer user I can tell you I do not feel completely safe even with a host of security software I have, criminals will always find a hole somewhere to steal your identity and that is the sobering truth, and then you got to be worried about spyware, malware, and everything else you can get when online.
The past few years has seem the emergence of services like Life Lock and Identity Truth to protect and monitor your personal information and serve as a warning system to you in case your identity becomes compromised and damages ensue. The system works by alerting whenever suspicious activity appears on your credit report. Life Lock works with the 3 credit reporting bureaus to help safeguard your information and alert when your credit is in jeopardy, guarantying your good name up too $1,000000.
{ 0 comments }
