Identity Theft Facts

There are a few identity theft facts that you need to know so you can be more aware of this growing problem. Everyone should be concerned about having their identities stolen.

It seems like every day you see a news story about someone who was a victim of identity theft. The person has lost thousands of dollars and ends up owing thousands more. Their credit is screwed up for years and they can't get a loan to buy a car or a mortgage to buy a home, all because some idiot stole their identity.

Identity Theft Facts

Identity theft is when someone illegally uses your personally identifying information without your permission. They can use your name, social security number and credit card number to make expensive purchases, take out loans, rent an apartment or take out credit cards in your name.

More than 9 million people in the United States alone are victims of identity theft according to the Federal Trade Commission. Unfortunately, most of these people did not know their identities were stolen until they received a debt collection notice or they tried to apply for a loan and was turned down due to a bad credit report.

When this happens, they end up spending months trying to clear up their credit. Some people lose out on job opportunities because of a poor credit report which wasn't their fault.

How Do these Thieves Steal Your Identity?

The most common ways thieves can steal your identity is by:

Going through your trash looking for bills you threw away that might have your credit card information on it or your social security number.

They can fill out a change of address form using their address to replace yours. This way, your bills will be sent to the new address (the thief's address) so they get your personal information.

Through phishing scams. A thief will send you an email that looks like it came from your bank or your credit card company asking you to verify some personal information by clicking on a link in the email.

Call you on the phone. Someone calls you up and says he/she is from some research company or a charity. The person then asks you for your name, social security number or your credit card number (in order to make a donation). Or they might call your bank pretending to be you and trying to get your checking account number.

Skimming (Something that happened in my city recently.) Someone used a storage device that looked like it was part of an ATM machine where you insert your ATM card. People did not notice the difference and they inserted their card in this device. Thieves are able to steal your ATM account number and password code with this storage device.

If you find out that your identity is stolen, immediately file a police report, notify your credit card companies and bank, and dispute any unauthorized transactions. Get an up to date credit report from all three credit agencies.

You can provide the police report to the credit agencies so they can permanently block fraudulent information in the future. The police report gives you certain legal rights you can use to prevent collection of fraudulent debts.

Now that you know these identity theft facts, you can put this knowledge to good use.

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