Understanding identity theft and how you can prevent yourself from falling victim to it is the purpose of this writing.
But first, what do identity thieves do? Identity thieves typically get and exploit personally identifiable information about individuals, or various credentials they used to authenticate themselves, in order to impersonate them.
After all, there is practically no one out there today that does not have or use a computer, and so that right there goes to show why there are so many identity theft victims.
Since the Internet first came out, so many people out there today have been identity theft victims, and there are many explanations for this.
Basically, there are so many identity theft victims largely in part because of how technologically advanced the world has become.
After all, there is practically no one out there today that does not have or use a computer, and so that right there goes to show why there are so many identity theft victims.
Since the Internet first came out, it has been much easier for people to steal other people’s identities, and it is in fact so common now that odds are that you know someone or maybe even over one person, of which have already been identity theft victims.
If you learn all that you can, then you can protect yourself against it and not be included in the identity theft victims category.
Types Of Identity Theft
- Criminal identity theft: Posing as another person when apprehended for a crime.
- Financial identity theft: Using another's identity to obtain credit, goods and services.
- Identity cloning: Using another's information to assume his or her identity in daily life.
- Medical identity theft: Using another's identity to obtain medical care or drugs.
- Child identity theft.
Also, identity theft may be used to facilitate or fund other crimes including illegal immigration, terrorism, phishing and espionage.
There are cases of identity cloning to attack payment systems, including online credit card processing and medical insurance.
Signs You Are A Victim Of Identity Theft
- Credit or debit card charges for goods or services you are not aware of, including unauthorized withdrawals from your account.
- Receiving calls from credit or debit card fraud control department warning of possible suspicious activity on your credit card account.
- Receiving credit cards that you did not apply for.
- Receiving information that a credit scoring investigation was done. They are often done when a loan or phone subscription was applied for.
- Checks bouncing for lack of enough money in your account to cover the amount. This might be because of unauthorized withdrawals from your account.
- Sudden changes to your credit score may show that someone else is using your credit cards.
- Bills for services like gas, water, electricity not arriving in time. This can be a sign that your mail was stolen or e redirected somewhere else.
- Not being approved for loans because your credit report shows that you are not credit worthy.
- Receiving notification from your post office informing you that your mails are being forwarded to another unknown address.
How to Protect Yourself
There are many things that you can do in order to protect yourself from identity theft, for instance:
1. Make sure that you do not have any credit cards unless you absolutely need them, and if you are someone who needs them, then at least make sure that you only have one or two, rather than a bunch.
This way you will be less likely to lose one, and as well you will have fewer credit card numbers that can get out in the open and get taken and used by an identity theft perpetrator.
2. Make sure that you rip up all of your bank receipts and statements once you leave the bank, unless you have a safe place in your home that you keep them.
You never want to leave your bank receipt on the top of the ATM machine because someone can actually take that and use the information on it and steal your identity.
Also check here the many scams thieves use not only during the holidays but on a daily basis as well.
Furthermore, identity theft criminals can commit crimes with your personal information.
You may not realize this until you see the police on your door arresting you for crimes you did not commit.
Your yearly tax returns showing that you have earned more than you have actually earned.
This might indicate that someone is using your national identification number (Social Security Number) to report their earnings on your number to the tax authorities.
It is actually really unbelievable how easy it is for someone to steal your identity, and so you definitely want to make sure that you take all the precautions that you possibly can.
There are so many people out there that are more than willing to help you out throughout this process, and so you want to make sure that you take full advantage of this, so you can get as much information and protect yourself from ID thieves as best you can.
Thank you for reading understanding identity theft and how you can prevent it. I hope this helps. If you liked this, share it to your family and friends who might benefit from this.
You can also check out the other articles that I shared here and follow me on News Break if you haven't already. Until next time. Be safe!
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