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It doesn’t take much of your personal
information for a criminal to steal your identity.
They can literally take over your
entire life, and it can be very difficult to catch them, because after
all, everything traces right back to you.
Identity theft wasn’t considered an offense in the United States until
1998 when Congress implemented identity theft as a federal offense
because the crime was rapidly on the rise across the country.
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States
and the crime is becoming more and more popular as technology and the
Internet grows. There are an increasing number of spam emails being sent
out with catchy headlines offering wonderful prizes if only you will do
a short survey in which you need to input your name, address and phone
number. Some identity thieves are so brazen to directly ask for your
Social Security Number for you to be eligible to win a prize.
There are also an increasing number of ‘pre-approved’ credit card
applications being sent out every day across the country. If these
applications are not properly destroyed before being put in the garbage,
they are easy targets for criminals to begin stealing your identity. All
your information is already there, all they have to do is sign the
application and send it in with a change of address. Easily done, isn’t
it? It is quite scary how easily your identity can be stolen.
Identity theft can happen to anyone: any age, race, religion and
financial status. Identity theft nets criminals a quick amount of money
in a very short period of time. The average theft is $17,000 in the
United States and usually happens in less than two days. Ask yourself a
question and answer honestly: do you know about all your finances every
day? Do you check your bank and credit card histories every day? It’s
impossible to track every type of financial transaction every day, even
for just yourself. Identity thieves are literally thieves in the
night-hard to catch and even harder to catch in the act, especially if
they know what they are doing. Netting $17,000 in less than two full
days is pretty good no matter who you are, wouldn’t you say?
There are ways to protect yourself from identity theft. Step number one
is to know that it can happen to you. By simply realizing that you, too,
could be a target for identity theft, you are already well on your way
to protecting yourself. The best advice anyone will give you to protect
yourself from identity theft is to always protect your personal
information. All of it. Only give out your information and personal data
to people who you trust and know are legitimate. Otherwise, they
probably don’t need to know. If you think you have been a victim of
identity theft, contact your local police for more information on how to
begin to reclaim your identity.
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