If you have been keeping up to date on current events one of the largest increases in crime can be attributed to identity theft. Identity theft is a term used for a type of crime that involves a hacker or thief stealing your personal and/or sensitive information to commit fraud or crimes. In most cases, identity theft involves stolen credit cards, stolen social security numbers and other forms of data that can be used for theft and fraud.
Identity theft can be extremely costly and take a considerable amount of time to clean up the damage. In fact, not only does this type of theft and fraud cost and individual in financial expenditures, but it can also have a lasting, negative effect on one's credit report which can make it difficult for a victim of this type of theft to receive a mortgage loan, car loan, new credit loans, apply for an apartment, etc.
How Does Identity Theft Happen? It should be noted that no one is immune to this type of crime. Identity theft can happen to almost anyone. In most situations, your identity can be stolen by phishing scams or dubious retailers online. Phishing scams are an attempt to pry data from individuals by masquerading as a legitimate entity. For instance, you might get an email from American Express asking you to update your account including your name, address, account number, etc. Within this email will be a link to click on to send your information over. Unfortunately, American Express isn't requesting info, it is in fact a fraudulent attempt to steal your identity and use it to commit crimes. Other ways that identity theft can occur is when hackers break into a businesses database of customer records. In one single break-in, thousands, if not millions of personal bits of information can be stolen and used for identity theft crimes.
How To Stop Identity Theft While there is no sure way to stop identity theft, there are a few things you can do. First off, make sure you only give sensitive information to legitimate entities. Learn more about phishing scams, so you don't become a victim of them. Another tip is to check your credit report every six months. You should see if any new loans or credit cards have been taken out. If you see a new loan taken out, but it was not you who requested the loan then you can contact the loan company, credit reporting agency and the police to confirm an identity theft. Catching identity theft early on is one way to lower the chances of a lot of harm done to your credit report and financials.
