What Is Identity
Theft?
Identity theft, or ID theft, is a serious problem
that involves the stealing of your personal
information for criminal purposes. Sometimes this
means that an individual takes your wallet and uses
your credit cards to make fraudulent purchases. In
worse cases, a thief could sell your personal
information to people or agencies that actually
assume your identity and conduct business under your
name. Needless to say, this can ruin a person's
credit and drain them of all assets and possessions,
depending on how severe the theft committed.
At the very least, identity theft is violating and
hurtful. At the most, it is life ruining and
financially disastrous. There is hope. Credit card
companies, lending institutions, and other financial
organizations are well versed on issues of identity
theft and have implemented systems that look for and
prevent ID theft, as well as retroactively account
for matters that have been determined to be
fraudulent.
Still, ID theft is a hard thing to deal with.
Experts estimate that in the last year alone,
somewhere between seven to 10 million people were
victims of identity theft at some level. Further,
these people are not the "rich and famous." They are
your neighbors, your teachers, and people you see
every day, just like you.
To prevent ID theft, it is important to safeguard
your information at every turn. The most common way
thieves get information is from lost or stolen
wallets, so if you suspect yours has gone missing,
call your credit card companies right away to alert
them. It is also a good idea to alert the DMV and
other organizations to which you are a card-carrying
member. As an additional caution, never give out
personal information online unless you are sure the
site is secure.
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