What Identity Theft is
Maybe you have heard many recent news stories concerning identity thefts. It is basically the use of your personal social security number, drivers license number or maybe even something like your mother's maiden name (many internet sites ask for that), by an unathourized person, meaning someone other than your own self. That is not a very comforting thought, i am sure you will agree. It is good to stay prepared for the event that such misfortune may befall you. It does sound like too much at first. But imagine you go shopping, select your favorite trousers and when it is time to pay you are told your credit balance is next to zero on your card. Only you know that it cannot be so - now you would need to follow up with the bank etc. Here is how you can take measures to prevent identity theft
At the house
1. If you are the kind who likes to take some of your work home, be careful not to let your personal data files get mixed up with work files on your hard drive.
2. As far as snail mail post goes, it is wiser to drop it off at the post office yourself rather than to leave it unattended in the mail box. Also, if you suddenly decide to go on a trip, do call the post office and ask them to hold your letters until you contact them again.
3. Do not throw away used bills, credit card statements and other personal finance data. Throwing them in the bin would allow someone to get at that information, if they have already targeted you. Instead, it is better to destroy such papers. use a shredder!
4. Do not keep all your eggs in one bank basket! Allot different accounts to your social security, insurance policies and credit cards.
And at the work place
5. Get to learn about the safety of data at the office. Someone always does have access to all your data and it is probably the network administrator.
6. Many of us use the internet to make finance transactions today. If you have clients online that are rated badly by other users, try and find out why. Never give out personal information to anyone over the internet, unless it is a trusted company.
7. Use something like a Pay Pal account to make online purchases. Every time you use your credit card you are increasing the risk of identity theft.
8. Never give your social security number, card pin or other personal information to an unknown tele caller. On the other hand, if you have made the call for a reason, it may be ok to do so.
9. When ever you deal with a web site, look for their security policy.
Follow these steps and chances are, your identity will remain yours!
About the Author:
Abhishek is a Personal Security expert and he has got some great Identity Theft Prevention Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 136 Pages Ebook, "Identity Theft - Don't Be The Next Victim!" from his website http://www.Survival-Today.com/14/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tips To Help You Understand Your Credit Reports
In this country, there are three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. They offer information to lenders about a person's credit score. The lower your credit score, the less likely you are to get credit. Each credit report comes with "score reason codes" to explain why your credit score is where it is.
It is up to you to know what is on your credit report and keep the data up to date. You might have paid your bills on time, but your credit report may show that your credit is less than perfect. You may have had a credit dispute with a merchant that was corrected, but not shown on your report. You may have a bankruptcy that was not properly recorded. You may also have experienced credit fraud.
You can fix your credit profile. You can make sure that you aren't carrying more debt than is reasonable for your income level. Avoid late and non payments. Make sure that there are no judgments or liens against you. You should also avoid co-signing loans because they are considered your financial liability. If the co-signer defaults, it will be your responsibility to replay the loan. You should avoid unnecessary checks of your credit. Each credit inquiry is recorded and remains on the books for two years. Lenders seeing too many inquiries may think that you are unable to support your current debt and are looking for more credit to support it. Having excessive unused credit is not good. A lender will check to see how much credit you actually have. If you have too much, the lender might worry that you will use up all your credit in a spending spree after you secure a new loan or mortgage.
It's important to see your credit score and keep it up to date. Most lenders are concerned about your credit activities during the past year or two. You want to make sure the report is accurate for this period and contains no errors. Depending on how inaccurate your credit report is, you may not be given additional credit. This is especially crucial if you are applying for a mortgage. It is not impossible to get a mortgage with less than a perfect credit report, but the amount of the loan and the interest on it will be higher if the lender decides you are a risk.
How do you keep your credit report up to date? There are services, such as Equifax, that will provide a credit report to you and advise you on how to make changes. They will usually update you twice a year on your credit history. They may even advise you when you are approaching your credit limit. Under federal law, you are entitled to a free annual credit report from Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. You should go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com for more details.
Make sure that when you decide to fix your credit report that you do it the right way. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns consumers to beware of companies that guarantee that they can remove late payments, bankruptcies, or similar information from your credit report. Stay away from companies that charge a lot of money to repair credit, keep asking you to verify information that you have previously verified, refuse to give you their address or push you to make a decision
About the Author:
Read more Finances related articles at: finance-mag.com
It is up to you to know what is on your credit report and keep the data up to date. You might have paid your bills on time, but your credit report may show that your credit is less than perfect. You may have had a credit dispute with a merchant that was corrected, but not shown on your report. You may have a bankruptcy that was not properly recorded. You may also have experienced credit fraud.
You can fix your credit profile. You can make sure that you aren't carrying more debt than is reasonable for your income level. Avoid late and non payments. Make sure that there are no judgments or liens against you. You should also avoid co-signing loans because they are considered your financial liability. If the co-signer defaults, it will be your responsibility to replay the loan. You should avoid unnecessary checks of your credit. Each credit inquiry is recorded and remains on the books for two years. Lenders seeing too many inquiries may think that you are unable to support your current debt and are looking for more credit to support it. Having excessive unused credit is not good. A lender will check to see how much credit you actually have. If you have too much, the lender might worry that you will use up all your credit in a spending spree after you secure a new loan or mortgage.
It's important to see your credit score and keep it up to date. Most lenders are concerned about your credit activities during the past year or two. You want to make sure the report is accurate for this period and contains no errors. Depending on how inaccurate your credit report is, you may not be given additional credit. This is especially crucial if you are applying for a mortgage. It is not impossible to get a mortgage with less than a perfect credit report, but the amount of the loan and the interest on it will be higher if the lender decides you are a risk.
How do you keep your credit report up to date? There are services, such as Equifax, that will provide a credit report to you and advise you on how to make changes. They will usually update you twice a year on your credit history. They may even advise you when you are approaching your credit limit. Under federal law, you are entitled to a free annual credit report from Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. You should go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com for more details.
Make sure that when you decide to fix your credit report that you do it the right way. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns consumers to beware of companies that guarantee that they can remove late payments, bankruptcies, or similar information from your credit report. Stay away from companies that charge a lot of money to repair credit, keep asking you to verify information that you have previously verified, refuse to give you their address or push you to make a decision
About the Author:
Read more Finances related articles at: finance-mag.com
Friday, July 10, 2009
Identity Theft Laws - How The Legal System Can Protect You
In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission said that reports of identity theft were up 33% from the year before, that they were aware of over 200,000 cases of identity theft in 2003. States with the most reported cases of identity theft were Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and Florida. And for almost three quarters of the fraud cases reported, the use of victims' personal information was used for credit card, phone or utility, or bank fraud. They also found that, on average, the misuse of victims' personal information lasted from three to six months and resulted in a total loss of about $5 billion to victims, plus over 300 million hours of personal time resolving the problems once discovered.
The 2003 FTC Survey reported over $50 billion in losses to business as a result of identity theft. They also reported that, in that year, each victim spent from $500 to $1200 and from 30 to 60 personal hours to have their credit problems resolved. Unfortunately, there is little hope that this trend will decrease in the near future. Identity theft seems to be getting easier, not harder, and the criminals are learning how to hide their crimes from victims longer and to hide their person from law enforcement altogether.
Unfortunately, there is no single database in the U.S. covering identity theft cases, and the Committee suspects that the number of crimes are vastly underreported. Classifying these crimes as identity theft varies from state to state and from police department to police department. The 2003 study revealed that 60% of victims of identity theft had not reported the crime to their police department! Only one in five had even reported the problem to their credit bureau.
Identity theft crimes are investigated at the federal level by federal agencies like the Secret Service and the FBI. The Department of Justice usually prosecutes the cases through a local U.S. Attorneys’ office. In 2000, U.S. Attorneys reported that they had filed over 2000 cases of identity theft across the country (compare this to the 9 million victims per year). That year, the Secret Service made over 3000 arrests, and average actual loses to victims in cases that were closed equaled over $46,000 each. The FBI reported 1425 convictions for identity theft, over a thousand of those for bank fraud. The Postal Inspection Service made a little over 1700 arrests in 2000. Even the IRS reported actual and suspected cases of identity theft in questionable tax returns in 2000, estimating that they had received around 150 thousand fraudulent returns and fraudulent claims for more than $750 million in refunds. Today, the federal government recognizes that identity theft is the fastest-growing financial crime in America.
One reason for the apparently low proportion of prosecutions and convictions for identity theft has been the government's inability to define the specific crimes. In 1998, Congress passed the first law addressing identity theft, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, making identity theft a named federal crime and making it a little easier to prosecute. The Act made the Federal Trade Commission responsible for receipt of complaints and public education about identity theft.
The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act of 2004 established penalties for aggravated identity theft, including those instances where identity theft was used to commit more serious crimes. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address identity theft and related consumer issues, making it possible for victims to work with creditors and credit bureaus to remove negative information due to identity theft in their credit report. The Internet False Identification Act of 2000 amended the older False Identification Crime Control Act of 1982 to encompass computer-aided false identity crimes. Violators face fines and/or imprisonment for producing or transferring false identification documents.
Experts encourage people to be proactive in taking steps to prevent and discover identity theft. Clearly, keeping it from happening in the first place is far less stressful than trying to resolve issues after identity theft crimes are committed. Here are a few of the things you can do to protect your personal financial information from identity theft criminals:
- Secure your personal information at all times. Don't leave lists of account numbers unlocked, and don't share your user IDs or passwords with ANYone. Maintain as much control over your personal financial information as you can.
- Don't throw mail away if in contains any personal information, including your full name and address. Shred these documents before putting them in the garbage.
- Educate yourself about the techniques and tactics used in identity theft and protect yourself accordingly.
- Don't share personal account information with anyone, including co-workers, friends, and roommates. Unless they are also responsible for paying your bills, they have no reason to have this information. And don't give them your passwords without a very good reason. If you do share your passwords, change them as soon as possible.
- Shred unwanted and pre-approved credit applications, and have your name removed from those mailing lists.
- Be careful when you make purchases online to use only secure servers and to carefully guard your information. Do not keep a written list of passwords, and use passwords that are difficult to figure out (rather than something simple like your phone number).
About the Author:
Abhishek is a Personal Security expert and he has got some great Identity Theft Prevention Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 136 Pages Ebook, "Identity Theft - Don't Be The Next Victim!" from his website http://www.Survival-Today.com/14/index.htm (limited quantities available)
The 2003 FTC Survey reported over $50 billion in losses to business as a result of identity theft. They also reported that, in that year, each victim spent from $500 to $1200 and from 30 to 60 personal hours to have their credit problems resolved. Unfortunately, there is little hope that this trend will decrease in the near future. Identity theft seems to be getting easier, not harder, and the criminals are learning how to hide their crimes from victims longer and to hide their person from law enforcement altogether.
Unfortunately, there is no single database in the U.S. covering identity theft cases, and the Committee suspects that the number of crimes are vastly underreported. Classifying these crimes as identity theft varies from state to state and from police department to police department. The 2003 study revealed that 60% of victims of identity theft had not reported the crime to their police department! Only one in five had even reported the problem to their credit bureau.
Identity theft crimes are investigated at the federal level by federal agencies like the Secret Service and the FBI. The Department of Justice usually prosecutes the cases through a local U.S. Attorneys’ office. In 2000, U.S. Attorneys reported that they had filed over 2000 cases of identity theft across the country (compare this to the 9 million victims per year). That year, the Secret Service made over 3000 arrests, and average actual loses to victims in cases that were closed equaled over $46,000 each. The FBI reported 1425 convictions for identity theft, over a thousand of those for bank fraud. The Postal Inspection Service made a little over 1700 arrests in 2000. Even the IRS reported actual and suspected cases of identity theft in questionable tax returns in 2000, estimating that they had received around 150 thousand fraudulent returns and fraudulent claims for more than $750 million in refunds. Today, the federal government recognizes that identity theft is the fastest-growing financial crime in America.
One reason for the apparently low proportion of prosecutions and convictions for identity theft has been the government's inability to define the specific crimes. In 1998, Congress passed the first law addressing identity theft, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, making identity theft a named federal crime and making it a little easier to prosecute. The Act made the Federal Trade Commission responsible for receipt of complaints and public education about identity theft.
The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act of 2004 established penalties for aggravated identity theft, including those instances where identity theft was used to commit more serious crimes. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address identity theft and related consumer issues, making it possible for victims to work with creditors and credit bureaus to remove negative information due to identity theft in their credit report. The Internet False Identification Act of 2000 amended the older False Identification Crime Control Act of 1982 to encompass computer-aided false identity crimes. Violators face fines and/or imprisonment for producing or transferring false identification documents.
Experts encourage people to be proactive in taking steps to prevent and discover identity theft. Clearly, keeping it from happening in the first place is far less stressful than trying to resolve issues after identity theft crimes are committed. Here are a few of the things you can do to protect your personal financial information from identity theft criminals:
- Secure your personal information at all times. Don't leave lists of account numbers unlocked, and don't share your user IDs or passwords with ANYone. Maintain as much control over your personal financial information as you can.
- Don't throw mail away if in contains any personal information, including your full name and address. Shred these documents before putting them in the garbage.
- Educate yourself about the techniques and tactics used in identity theft and protect yourself accordingly.
- Don't share personal account information with anyone, including co-workers, friends, and roommates. Unless they are also responsible for paying your bills, they have no reason to have this information. And don't give them your passwords without a very good reason. If you do share your passwords, change them as soon as possible.
- Shred unwanted and pre-approved credit applications, and have your name removed from those mailing lists.
- Be careful when you make purchases online to use only secure servers and to carefully guard your information. Do not keep a written list of passwords, and use passwords that are difficult to figure out (rather than something simple like your phone number).
About the Author:
Abhishek is a Personal Security expert and he has got some great Identity Theft Prevention Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 136 Pages Ebook, "Identity Theft - Don't Be The Next Victim!" from his website http://www.Survival-Today.com/14/index.htm (limited quantities available)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Identity Theft- Protect Yourself Now Before it is Too Late!
Identity theft is a huge problem and as the economy has gotten worse so has identity theft. There has never been a time when it was more important to protect yourself from identity theft than now.
You may be wondering how you can protect yourself but first I think you should understand How bad identity theft has really become.
Here are some scary facts about identity theft - what is now the fastest-growing crime in the nation:
· There have been over 9 million victims a year for two years running
(Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, January 2005)
· Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to FTC five years in a row
(Federal Trade Commission, National and State Trends in Fraud and Identity Theft, February 1, 2005)
??????· Identity theft has claimed over 30 million victims in past five years
(Federal Trade Commission, 2003 and Better Business Bureau, 2005)
WOW! Identity theft has become a nationwide problem with millions of victims of all ages.
Here is a fact that will probably surprise you. In 2003, nearly 7 million people became victims of identity theft in the previous 12 months. That breaks down to around 19,178 per day, 799 per hour, and 13.3 per minute.
It is a fact, according to the US Department of Justice, that drug trafficking is now being replaced by identity theft as the number one crime. This affects all of us in one way or another.
Either you, or someone you know becomes a victim of identity theft.
AND, identity theft causes stores and credit card company to raise prices and their rates, respectively.
So what does this mean? We all pay for identity theft in some way so we all need to protect ourselves and our loved ones and we need to be sure to report as soon as possible anyone that we suspect of trying to steal someone’s identity.
Although identity theft scams most often happen over the phone you need to be careful where-ever you are. They could contact you online, over the phone or even come to your door.
Be sure to provide the police with any pertinent information that you may have. Time, location, what the person looked like, sounded like, caller id information, what type of vehicle-kind, color, year, distinguishing marks on the person or their vehicle, etc.
For many people it will probably take hundreds of hours, and an average of $1,000, just to recover from ID theft. Even worse is that in some innocent victims have ended up in prison because identity thieves have been committing crimes in their names. Thus, the victim then ends up being victimized twice.
Now hopefully this has shown you why identity theft prevention is so important. We want to help you to protect yourself from this awful nightmare. We have an excellent resource to help you to protect yourself so that you never need worry about becoming a victim of identity theft. Find out about the different ways that these scammers will use to steal your identity and how you can protect yourself from them.
Now, if you would like to find out more about how identity thieves can steal your identity from you in the first place then please send a blank email to .
identity-theft-facts@freeautobot.com
About the Author:
Michelle Oaks has been working online for over 7 years. She is the published author of numerous articles, e-books and more. Michelle is the owner of mojovideoworld.com & freedomin90days.ws
You may be wondering how you can protect yourself but first I think you should understand How bad identity theft has really become.
Here are some scary facts about identity theft - what is now the fastest-growing crime in the nation:
· There have been over 9 million victims a year for two years running
(Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, January 2005)
· Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to FTC five years in a row
(Federal Trade Commission, National and State Trends in Fraud and Identity Theft, February 1, 2005)
??????· Identity theft has claimed over 30 million victims in past five years
(Federal Trade Commission, 2003 and Better Business Bureau, 2005)
WOW! Identity theft has become a nationwide problem with millions of victims of all ages.
Here is a fact that will probably surprise you. In 2003, nearly 7 million people became victims of identity theft in the previous 12 months. That breaks down to around 19,178 per day, 799 per hour, and 13.3 per minute.
It is a fact, according to the US Department of Justice, that drug trafficking is now being replaced by identity theft as the number one crime. This affects all of us in one way or another.
Either you, or someone you know becomes a victim of identity theft.
AND, identity theft causes stores and credit card company to raise prices and their rates, respectively.
So what does this mean? We all pay for identity theft in some way so we all need to protect ourselves and our loved ones and we need to be sure to report as soon as possible anyone that we suspect of trying to steal someone’s identity.
Although identity theft scams most often happen over the phone you need to be careful where-ever you are. They could contact you online, over the phone or even come to your door.
Be sure to provide the police with any pertinent information that you may have. Time, location, what the person looked like, sounded like, caller id information, what type of vehicle-kind, color, year, distinguishing marks on the person or their vehicle, etc.
For many people it will probably take hundreds of hours, and an average of $1,000, just to recover from ID theft. Even worse is that in some innocent victims have ended up in prison because identity thieves have been committing crimes in their names. Thus, the victim then ends up being victimized twice.
Now hopefully this has shown you why identity theft prevention is so important. We want to help you to protect yourself from this awful nightmare. We have an excellent resource to help you to protect yourself so that you never need worry about becoming a victim of identity theft. Find out about the different ways that these scammers will use to steal your identity and how you can protect yourself from them.
Now, if you would like to find out more about how identity thieves can steal your identity from you in the first place then please send a blank email to .
identity-theft-facts@freeautobot.com
About the Author:
Michelle Oaks has been working online for over 7 years. She is the published author of numerous articles, e-books and more. Michelle is the owner of mojovideoworld.com & freedomin90days.ws
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Identity Theft Programs Help You To Defend Yourself From Identity Theft
Due to the rise of identity theft incidents being reported yearly, many organizations are implementing their own identity theft programs to provide citizens education to fight this spiteful crime. Since becoming a victim of identity theft can be a life-changing experience, both emotionally and financially, learning to prevent the occurrence of this crime through identity theft programs can help you and your families live a normal and happy life without someone else meddling with your personal information.
Although the government has been working day and night to fight identity theft, busting these criminals could take several years, or sometimes, they can even live their own lives without being caught. For this reason, different public and private financial institutions with identity theft programs, such as the Federal Trade Commission's AvoID Theft: Deter, Detect, Defend�, are educating people to avoid identity theft while giving assistance to those who have victimized.
FTC's National Identity Theft Program
Since the United States has the highest rate of identity theft compared to other countries, the FTC has been working fulltime to distribute online and print informational materials to ensure all consumers are aware of this crime. With over 20 million copies of the information booklet distributed, the FTC identity theft program is reaching one household at a time to reduce the occurrence of identity theft in the country.
Private organization that help consumers fight identity theft are also using the FTC identity theft program to empower citizens in protecting themselves against the damages caused by this crime. The Deter, Detect and Defend� Program educates people and links to other organizations in both private and public sectors including law enforcement agencies, consumer groups, federal agencies and other trade associations to give consumers options on where to ask for help.
The FTC identity theft program releases an informational kit for all organizations fighting identity theft that include a how-to booklet with instructions on educating consumers to aid organizations facilitate outreach programs. It also includes a brochure that these organizations can easily reproduce to give out to people who attend seminars and education sessions. To capture the level of damage identity theft can cause a person's life, a 10-minute video of victims is also included in the program to explain to people how to fight this crime.
Using the FTC identity theft program can help other organizations hold seminars and distribute educational materials about fighting identity theft. Since education is the only key to avoiding this crime, consumers can now be aware on how to identify these problems and take immediate actions if ever they become a victim of identity theft.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Ann Marier has written many articles on health problems and useful house and garden Topics. More articles on How To Prevent Identity Theft And Computer Crime
http://u-can-prevent-id-theft.com
Although the government has been working day and night to fight identity theft, busting these criminals could take several years, or sometimes, they can even live their own lives without being caught. For this reason, different public and private financial institutions with identity theft programs, such as the Federal Trade Commission's AvoID Theft: Deter, Detect, Defend�, are educating people to avoid identity theft while giving assistance to those who have victimized.
FTC's National Identity Theft Program
Since the United States has the highest rate of identity theft compared to other countries, the FTC has been working fulltime to distribute online and print informational materials to ensure all consumers are aware of this crime. With over 20 million copies of the information booklet distributed, the FTC identity theft program is reaching one household at a time to reduce the occurrence of identity theft in the country.
Private organization that help consumers fight identity theft are also using the FTC identity theft program to empower citizens in protecting themselves against the damages caused by this crime. The Deter, Detect and Defend� Program educates people and links to other organizations in both private and public sectors including law enforcement agencies, consumer groups, federal agencies and other trade associations to give consumers options on where to ask for help.
The FTC identity theft program releases an informational kit for all organizations fighting identity theft that include a how-to booklet with instructions on educating consumers to aid organizations facilitate outreach programs. It also includes a brochure that these organizations can easily reproduce to give out to people who attend seminars and education sessions. To capture the level of damage identity theft can cause a person's life, a 10-minute video of victims is also included in the program to explain to people how to fight this crime.
Using the FTC identity theft program can help other organizations hold seminars and distribute educational materials about fighting identity theft. Since education is the only key to avoiding this crime, consumers can now be aware on how to identify these problems and take immediate actions if ever they become a victim of identity theft.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Ann Marier has written many articles on health problems and useful house and garden Topics. More articles on How To Prevent Identity Theft And Computer Crime
http://u-can-prevent-id-theft.com
Thursday, July 2, 2009
With The Increase In Identity Theft Cases We All Have To Be More Aware
There has been such an increase in identity theft cases, especially over the past few years, and so obviously you have to protect yourself against something such as identity theft that much more in these days. However, if you take the proper precautions then you will lessen your odds of becoming just another one of the many identity theft cases, and so obviously this will be well worth it in the end.
More About Identity Theft Cases
There is really so much that needs to be known when it comes to identity theft cases, and so if you want to protect yourself as best as you can, then you are going to want to know as much about identity theft cases and identity theft in general that you can. One thing in particular that you are going to want to do is go into your bank and speak to a financial advisor.
You are going to want to do this because they are going to be able to let you know what you can do and the steps that you can take in order to protect yourself against identity theft; they will be able to take steps that will better protect your personal information and your banking account, and so you are definitely going to want to make sure that you do this.
whilst you are there you can talk to them about the danger of identity theft, and they will be able to tell you things that you should and should not do. For instance, one of the most major things that they will tell you right off the bat is that you should never leave your bank slips or receipts by the ATM after you deposit or withdrawal money, for instance, because someone could take this and using the information on it they could steal your identity.Also never give out your PIN number to anybody on the telephone or over the web.
Another good practice is to make sure that all of your identification is safe and secure in whatever you carry it around in, and that you only bring the essentials around with you. For instance, you are basically never going to need your birth certificate when you are out, and so you are going to want to leave something like that at home, because if you do bring it out then you are just risking being an identity theft victim that much more.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Ann Merier has written many articles on family health problems and useful house and garden Topics. More How To Prevent Identity theft articles
http://u-can-prevent-id-theft.com
More About Identity Theft Cases
There is really so much that needs to be known when it comes to identity theft cases, and so if you want to protect yourself as best as you can, then you are going to want to know as much about identity theft cases and identity theft in general that you can. One thing in particular that you are going to want to do is go into your bank and speak to a financial advisor.
You are going to want to do this because they are going to be able to let you know what you can do and the steps that you can take in order to protect yourself against identity theft; they will be able to take steps that will better protect your personal information and your banking account, and so you are definitely going to want to make sure that you do this.
whilst you are there you can talk to them about the danger of identity theft, and they will be able to tell you things that you should and should not do. For instance, one of the most major things that they will tell you right off the bat is that you should never leave your bank slips or receipts by the ATM after you deposit or withdrawal money, for instance, because someone could take this and using the information on it they could steal your identity.Also never give out your PIN number to anybody on the telephone or over the web.
Another good practice is to make sure that all of your identification is safe and secure in whatever you carry it around in, and that you only bring the essentials around with you. For instance, you are basically never going to need your birth certificate when you are out, and so you are going to want to leave something like that at home, because if you do bring it out then you are just risking being an identity theft victim that much more.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Ann Merier has written many articles on family health problems and useful house and garden Topics. More How To Prevent Identity theft articles
http://u-can-prevent-id-theft.com
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Identity Theft - The Forms of Identity Theft
The main form of Identity Theft is credit theft. This is the most common and the one most people fear the most. Credit theft is only about 28% of identity theft. Bank fraud is 18%, phone and utility fraud is 19%, employment related fraud is 13%, Government documents & benefits fraud is 8% and medical fraud is growing. Bank fraud differs from credit fraud in several ways. With credit theft, once the crime is discovered and the victim is identified then their accounts are quickly cleared up. It's primarily a paperwork issue. In the case of bank fraud, the victim can loss a lot of money and possibly never recover it. It largely depends on how the money was removed from the account and it some cases to where the money was moved. There are a lot of laws protecting bank account owners, but there are many scenarios where it is difficult to impossible to determine if a person was really robbed. For example, a wired transfer to a country where it's impossible to investigate banking fraud.
Utility fraud is relatively easy to commit. Think about how little it took for you to establish phone or electrical service at your home. If a persons identity is fraudulently used to obtain utility service, it isn't difficult to resolve the problem relative to the other forms of identity theft, but it can indicate a much greater problem. The same information that was used to fraudulently establish utility service can be used to obtain credit. After all, even criminals need to furnish their home with two years same as cash furniture that most honest people do. By the time the payments come do on this new furniture, the criminal is probably onto their next location and victims.
Employment fraud should be particularly concerning to most Americans. With the rise in illegal immigration and terrorism, many people are entering the US illegally and using other peoples identities to slip quietly into the system. Others are using other peoples credentials to get better jobs. There are people out their that gladly change their identity to someone with a PhD, MBA or other college degree to establish themselves in a great job. There was a recent news series on a school principle that falsified much of his credentials to get his job. He never would have been caught except for an unrelated crime brought him into the light and his lies were exposed. This kind of identity theft affects everyone. What if a pedophile faked credentials to get a teaching job?
Millions of dollars are illegally obtained from our government every year with fraudulent identities. There are dozens of stories every year where a criminal organization used the elderly to obtain Social Security or Medicare funds. How many of the most fragile members of society are compromised and harmed every year because the wrong person got a hold of their Social Security Number? How many government grants and loans have been approved to an impersonator? Think about all the Katrina victims that were re-victimized by other people stealing their identity and claiming their aid.
Medical identity theft is growing. It is becoming more and more frequent where a ill person is seeking medical treatment under another persons identity. Most scenarios seem to be related to a drug addict trying to obtain more prescription drugs, but other desperate individuals are discovering the technique. Imagine the medical identity of a healthy 30 something father is compromised by someone with AIDS. This father wants to get a large life insurance policy to protect his family. What kind of trouble is he going experience when he is denied? In some cases, the insuring company won't even tell the applicant why their being denied.
Criminal identity is growing too. Imagine a street level drug dealer learns that he can extend his criminal career by assuming someone else's identity. He is arrested. Gives another persons name and address when booked, then doesn't appear for their court date. Guess who the police will be looking for when serving that warrant? Yes, the problem will be cleared up eventually, but will that be after the victim of the identity theft is humiliated by the arrest process? What if they're arrested at work or at home in front of the kids? And now, every time a criminal background check is run on this victim they are going to have to explain how they were a victim; if they even get a chance.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Frank Brammer Owns or operates: Identity Theft Knowledge Articles, News and Blogs InfoZite Articles, News and more
http://identitytheftknowledge.com
Utility fraud is relatively easy to commit. Think about how little it took for you to establish phone or electrical service at your home. If a persons identity is fraudulently used to obtain utility service, it isn't difficult to resolve the problem relative to the other forms of identity theft, but it can indicate a much greater problem. The same information that was used to fraudulently establish utility service can be used to obtain credit. After all, even criminals need to furnish their home with two years same as cash furniture that most honest people do. By the time the payments come do on this new furniture, the criminal is probably onto their next location and victims.
Employment fraud should be particularly concerning to most Americans. With the rise in illegal immigration and terrorism, many people are entering the US illegally and using other peoples identities to slip quietly into the system. Others are using other peoples credentials to get better jobs. There are people out their that gladly change their identity to someone with a PhD, MBA or other college degree to establish themselves in a great job. There was a recent news series on a school principle that falsified much of his credentials to get his job. He never would have been caught except for an unrelated crime brought him into the light and his lies were exposed. This kind of identity theft affects everyone. What if a pedophile faked credentials to get a teaching job?
Millions of dollars are illegally obtained from our government every year with fraudulent identities. There are dozens of stories every year where a criminal organization used the elderly to obtain Social Security or Medicare funds. How many of the most fragile members of society are compromised and harmed every year because the wrong person got a hold of their Social Security Number? How many government grants and loans have been approved to an impersonator? Think about all the Katrina victims that were re-victimized by other people stealing their identity and claiming their aid.
Medical identity theft is growing. It is becoming more and more frequent where a ill person is seeking medical treatment under another persons identity. Most scenarios seem to be related to a drug addict trying to obtain more prescription drugs, but other desperate individuals are discovering the technique. Imagine the medical identity of a healthy 30 something father is compromised by someone with AIDS. This father wants to get a large life insurance policy to protect his family. What kind of trouble is he going experience when he is denied? In some cases, the insuring company won't even tell the applicant why their being denied.
Criminal identity is growing too. Imagine a street level drug dealer learns that he can extend his criminal career by assuming someone else's identity. He is arrested. Gives another persons name and address when booked, then doesn't appear for their court date. Guess who the police will be looking for when serving that warrant? Yes, the problem will be cleared up eventually, but will that be after the victim of the identity theft is humiliated by the arrest process? What if they're arrested at work or at home in front of the kids? And now, every time a criminal background check is run on this victim they are going to have to explain how they were a victim; if they even get a chance.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Frank Brammer Owns or operates: Identity Theft Knowledge Articles, News and Blogs InfoZite Articles, News and more
http://identitytheftknowledge.com
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