Identity theft

Picture this: the phone rings and a collection agency demands that you pay “overdue” accounts for goods that you never ordered. The supermarket refuses your cheques because you have a history of bouncing them – but you have always paid your bills on-time, what is going on?

Identity theft can happen to anyone at anytime. As one of the fastest rising crimes throughout the developed world, identity theft has no limit to its potential for creating havoc in someone’s life.

Unfortunately, you may have become a victim of identity theft and not known about it. Using a variety of methods, criminals steal identification numbers, credit card numbers, ATM cards, telephone calling cards, and other pieces of individuals’ identities.

These criminals have a goal to steal as much money as possible, before the victim realizes they are being robbed. As identity theft rises, new and different variations of this crime begin to emerge. While reviewing these types of identity theft, think about the ways that you can start to protect yourself.

	Account Takeover: This type of identity theft occurs when a thief acquires your current credit card information and purchases products and services using either the actual credit card or simply the account number and expiration date Application Fraud: this refers to a thief using your identification and other identifying information to open new accounts in your name. Victims are not likely to understand that they have been victimized because monthly account statements are mailed to an address used by the impostor Rubbish Diving: Many people don’t realize that the paper they put in the rubbish may be susceptible to identity theft. Criminals can simply look through the thrown-out financial information and use it to obtain personal information suitable to identity theft

Dangers of Identity Theft

Even though victims are not usually saddled with paying their impostors’ bills, they can be left with a bad credit report and must spend months and even years regaining their financial health. There is also the feeling of personal violation that identity theft victims often face. It is worth the preventative method to save yourself the stress and anxiety.

There are many ways to prevent identity theft. For example, by being diligent with your financial records (shredding documents, being careful not to throw out certain personal documents, and protecting your pin numbers) you can eliminate the thief’s opportunity to steal your information.

Here are some common ways that thieves obtain their victim’s information:

	Mail Stealing: Always make sure you receive your banking statements. Even the most well locked mailboxes may not stop the most determined thief Protect your Credit Card: Check your statement carefully each month, and if any strange purchases appear on your financial record, report them immediately Be careful at ATMs: A would-be thief may be able to see your pin number by merely looking over your shoulder Be careful what information you put online: due to the popularity of MySpace and Facebook, it may be tempting to put personal information online. Yet these are often common places for identity thieves to begin Try not to loose your wallet: this is the most common way for thieves to obtain your personal information. If you do lose your wallet be sure to notify all institutions with whom you have accounts

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