Thursday 10 May 2012

Identity Theft

By Joe Wilson


IDENTITY THEFT or commonly known as id theft is one type of crime where one person use some very crucial key piece of information of other persons such as credit card number, account number, social security number in order to portray someone else. That information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, property and services in the name of the dupe person. IDENTITY THEFT is the most profitable crime mostly used to achieve financial gain, and the crimes incorporated by the masters of identity theft are often assigned to the victim. Not only has the thief acquired money of the victims but often the use it to commit crimes and illegal activities to the name of the victims. By stealing identity like account number or social security number the thieve can open a bank account or credit card account and then apply for loan and remove funds from varying financial accounts.

Start with the needed requirement of storing your valuable documents in a lock box. The expired driving license might be worthless to you in a minor traffic situation, but this works in favor of an identity theft. So keep that in your lock box and remember to store it in a safe place that is less obvious. The other lock box documents should include current or expired social security numbers, passports and any documents pertaining to citizenship or residency status.

Obviously, people don't always check to see if someone else is using their driving license. Your social security number is also in the vulnerability list for identity theft. With more and more illegal entries in a country and requiring a social security number to get a job, you social security number is at risk. These numbers are also rarely checked for scam. So by the time you realize that you are at a loss, it is too late.

If you are a victim of IDENTITY THEFT then you should do the following steps: Place a fraud alert for your reports, close the account that you know or feel have been fiddled with or opened fraudulently, file a complaint with the FTC (federal trade commission), and take help from your local police to reach the community where the identity theft took place.

In order to create a false identity, specific personal information is always required. A credit card can be easily hacked to get money. A careless customer fails to consider the mistake in providing his personal information to an unknown source either through e-mails or phone calls. Thus, be alert and don't give out any information to a financial institution where you do not have an account. These possible fraud schemes should be taken note of, and their knowledge should be utilized wisely to prevent risking billions of dollars through identity theft.




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