Identity Theft

All over the world, Identity theft is a fast growing crime. Statistics say that it is one of the fastest growing crimes in America primarily because of their reliance on credit card numbers and Social Security Numbers to make transactions. Because of this, people can take these for granted and make your life a living hell. If numbers are the Devil's language, than an identity thief is the devil himself.

Anyone who relies heavily on credit cards, Social Security Numbers or network blogging is more susceptible to credit identity theft. Many of our modern conveniences also come with a risk and less protection. The digital age is the perfect age for the Cyber criminal to commit it. Think of the internet as a dark alley in the middle of the night. And these cyber criminals are those people hiding there waiting for you to make a mistake.

Credit identity theft is a very damaging crime because it not only damages the person financially but also damages the person's reputation as well. Imagine someone borrowing money using your name and never telling you. You will both bear with the burden of paying back the money he borrowed and suffer the humiliation of having this blunder under your name.

Now that we know that identity theft is a serious threat, what do we do to take care of it? First of all be weary of who you are going to send out your personal information to. People who perform credit identity theft can be ruthless. For one, they have no care for any of their victims and would bury them in debt if the chance comes. Secondly, it is a crime that relies on ambiguity. A person performing credit identity theft usually never met their victim personally and thus would least likely feel guilty stealing his identity.

We have to always keep a look out for telltale signs of possible phishers in the internet. Such as strange emails saying you won a prize especially if you never joined anything. Many emails such as this should be dismissed if they ask you for too much information such as your social security number. A legitimate prize does not ask for your Social Security Number as a proof of your identity.

Links that point to strange URLs are also possible phishing sites. Make sure that the URLs have an HTTP at the beginning to assure that you won't be a victim.

On the off chance that you become a victim of identity theft, stay calm and try and make an identity theft check. Make a trace of all transactions you made within this past two weeks and look for something suspicious such as transactions you never did. If you find any, close all these accounts immediately and double check if other existing accounts have been created in your name.

It is important to close all accounts as soon as you learn that you are a victim so that you can begin to repair the damage that has already been made before it gets any worse. Making a regular identity theft check on your accounts will help ward off phishers from accessing any personal information about you. It may not be possible to completely stop identity theft, but if you can't stop them, at least give them a harder time trying to get it.

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