Protecting Our Identity

l information to carry out a crime under a false identity.

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission said that reports of identity theft were up 33% from the year before, that they were aware of over 200,000 cases of identity theft in 2003. States with the most reported cases of identity theft were Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and Florida. And for almost three quarters of the fraud cases reported, the use of victims’ personal information was used for credit card, phone or utility, or bank fraud. They also found that, on average, the misuse of victims’ personal information lasted from three to six months and resulted in a total loss of about $5 billion to victims, plus over 300 million hours of personal time resolving the problems once discovered.

The 2003 FTC Survey reported over $50 billion in losses to business as a result of identity theft. They also reported that, in that year, each victim spent from $500 to $1200 and from 30 to 60 personal hours to have their credit problems resolved. Unfortunately, there is little hope that this trend will decrease in the near future. Identity theft seems to be getting easier, not harder, and the criminals are learning how to hide their crimes from victims longer and to hide their person from law enforcement altogether.

Unfortunately, there is no single database in the U.S. covering identity theft cases, and the Committee suspects that the number of crimes are vastly underreported. Classifying these crimes as identity theft varies from state to state and from police department to police department. The 2003 study revealed that 60% of victims of identity theft had not reported the crime to their police department! Only one in five had even reported the problem to their credit bureau.

Identity theft crimes are investigated at the federal level by federal agencies like the Secret Service and the FBI. The Department of Justice usually prosecutes the cases through a local U.S. Attorneys’ office. In 2000, U.S. Attorneys reported that they had filed over 2000 cases of identity theft across the country (compare this to the 9 million victims per year). That year, the Secret Service made over 3000 arrests, and average actual loses to victims in cases that were closed equaled over $46,000 each. The FBI reported 1425 convictions for identity theft, over a thousand of those for bank fraud. The Postal Inspection Service made a little over 1700 arrests in 2000. Even the IRS reported actual and suspected cases of identity theft in questionable tax returns in 2000, estimating that they had received around 150 thousand fraudulent returns and fraudulent claims for more than $750 million in refunds. Today, the federal government recognizes that identity theft is the fastest-growing financial crime in America.

One reason for the apparently low proportion of prosecutions and convictions for identity theft has been the government’s inability to define the specific crimes. In 1998, Congress passed the first law addressing identity theft, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, making identity theft a named federal crime and making it a little easier to prosecute. The Act made the Federal Trade Commission responsible for receipt of complaints and public education about identity theft.

The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act of 2004 established penalties for aggravated identity theft, including those instances where identity theft was used to commit more serious crimes. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address identity theft and related consumer issues, making it possible for victims to work with creditors and credit bureaus to remove negative information due to identity theft in their credit report. The Internet False Identification Act of 2000 amended the older False Identification Crime Control Act of 1982 to encompass computer-aided false identity crimes. Violators face fines and/or imprisonment for producing or transferring false identification documents.

Experts encourage people to be proactive in taking steps to prevent and discover identity theft. Clearly, keeping it from happening in the first place is far less stressful than trying to resolve issues after identity theft crimes are committed. Here are a few of the things you can do to protect your personal financial information from identity theft criminals:

- Secure your personal information at all times. Don’t leave lists of account numbers unlocked, and don’t share your user IDs or passwords with ANYone. Maintain as much control over your personal financial information as you can.

- Don’t throw mail away if in contains any personal information, including your full name and address. Shred these documents before putting them in the garbage.

- Educate yourself about the techniques and tactics used in identity theft and protect yourself accordingly.

- Don’t share personal account information with anyone, including co-workers, friends, and roommates. Unless they are also responsible for paying your bills, they have no reason to have this information. And don’t give them your passwords without a very good reason. If you do share your passwords, change them as soon as possible.

- Shred unwanted and pre-approved credit applications, and have your name removed from those mailing lists.

- Be careful when you make purchases online to use only secure servers and to carefully guard your information. Do not keep a written list of passwords, and use passwords that are difficult to figure out (rather than something simple like your phone number).



By: Abhishek Agarwal

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Identity theft can happen to anyone - or any business, for that matter. All identity theft is, is the use of a person (or business’) personally identifying assets, such as a SSN or an EIN/TaxID, to either access accounts and funds owned by the person or business, or to open new accounts (i.e. for loans) in the name of the business or person. This identification can also be used to commit crimes which can be traced back to you or your business.

One common use of business identity theft is to get to your customers. A scammer, after getting the names and addresses of your customers, may impersonate your business in e-mails, postal mail or other means to gain the customer’s confidence that the correspondence is, indeed, from you and exploit that trust. Not only will this hurt the customer, but the customer may not even know the person hurting them isn’t your business.

To avoid this, and other problems with identity theft, it is important to secure your data at every possible level. If you use computers, they should be adequately protected by security software and hardware, including firewalls and port blockers if they have internet access. Be careful when and where you use business credit cards - always ensure that websites are up to date on their encryption systems and never give your information to strangers over the phone. Shred all documents thoroughly before throwing them away. Additionally, create some way for the customer to confirm that a message they may get is really from you before they take any action.



By: Robbi Gunter

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If you have been keeping up with trends, you probably realize that identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century. Contrary to popular belief, the primary cause of it is not because more people are online since the crime of identity theft is not limited to online transactions or online banking. But it is caused by people not paying attention to the contents of sensitive information that they receive, online or offline, and not guarding that information with the care that it deserves.

Would you throw your banking account numbers with password and security codes into a trash can without shredding them first? Dumpster diving to retrieve information just like this has been a popular pastime for many thieves, and many of them are being rewarded for their efforts by being able to get enough private information about you to where they can open new accounts and get new credit cards in your name, but have the actual cards sent to a fake address somewhere. The first time you become aware of it is when a bank you have never heard of calls you and asks when you are going to start making payments on an overdue credit card account that is charged to the hilt, and you did not even know it existed!

It is even worse if you do things online. That is not to say that you should not do things online or shop online, but at the same time, you need to be smart about how you do things so that you do not leave yourself wide open as a potential target for these identity theft thieves. Most of this is just common sense if you think about it, but we should look at some of these things so that you can think twice about the next time you see it.

Never open an email attachment from someone you do not know. It may say it is from your late Uncle Fred about the money he left you in his will, it may claim to be from the IRS, or it may even claim to be from your Internet service provider or your bank. Do not open it. Even if you have the latest anti virus software, sometimes things can get past that software.

Never click on a link in an email from someone you do not know. The email could claim to be from the phone company or your bank or your stock broker or whatever, but never click on a link, which will typically ask you to verify your account information. They would never ask you to verify your account information this way. If you are wondering about it, call them on the phone and ask, but never click that link.

You know all that mail you get (not email, but regular postal mail) that contains those pre-approved credit card offers? What do you do with them? Do you just throw them in the trash? Those offers frequently have more than enough information to where someone who is dumpster diving can get that pre-approved card that was offered to you. Go to your nearest office supply store like Best Buy or Office Depot and get yourself a shredder, then shred those documents before you throw them away to avoid this type of situation.

Identity theft is not a pleasant experience, and if you do not check your credit report every now and then, it could be several months before you realize anything is amiss, at which point the thief is long gone. The best offense is a great defense, and that old saying applies to protecting your information against identity theft as much as anything else.



By: Jon Arnold

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Have you ever been a victim of identity theft or know someone who has? If so, you realize full well what a royal pain in the backside it is, and the damage that was done to your reputation and your credit report will take years to resolve.

Now that you know what can be the result of identity theft, you can look back and probably recognize various things you could have done differently to protect yourself more fully. Please understand that identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in our current high-tech society, and precautions you took 5 or 10 years ago need to be modified to be effective today.

Usually, by the time the victim realizes that his identity has been used, the identity thief has long since disappeared from the face of the planet, leaving a wake of damage to the victim’s name and credit report. The laws in this country are only now starting to realize that new laws need to be enacted to protect consumers from this type of theft, as well as making additional provisions and avenues for those who are victims. In Texas, a law was passed to limit a consumer’s credit freeze privileges until they can prove that they have been a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud. That is very similar to saying that you cannot buy a lock until you can prove that your house has been broken into, at which point it is too late!

If you discover that you are a victim of identity theft, the very first thing you need to do is to contact all of your lenders, including credit card companies, department stores, gas stations, your mortgage lender and your bank and let them know what happened. Depending on their policies, they may require you to fill out some paperwork.

One of the best things you can do at this time is to get a notebook and start taking very detailed notes. When you call your credit card company to report this, note the date and time of your call, and write down the name of the person you spoke with. Do this for every account you contact to alert them of what has happened. While you are talking with each one, ask them exactly what is covered if charges are discovered on your account that you yourself did not do. Sometimes all or some charges are covered by insurance, but other times there is no coverage.

Although the laws are changing, you should still contact the police and get legal help. Frequently, as unbelievable as it sounds, the police will not even open an investigation or become involved. The really strange part of this is that if they arrested someone who was “you” via identity theft, they could then come and arrest the REAL you if you did not show up at a court hearing.

If you are a victim of identity theft, you need to take action and take it NOW. Delays only allow the thief to get further away and drastically lessen the possibilities of finding them. For more tips about what to do about identity theft and measures you can take to prevent identity theft from happening in the first place, please visit our web site.



By: Jon Arnold

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Are you really safe from identity theft? Each day people are being attacked. So how would you feel if you got arrested for a crime you did not commit? The phone rings and creditors are harrassing you saying you owe X amount of dollars despite the fact you do not have a credit card or you haven’t used it in that month. What will you say to them?

Perhaps when you become a victim you will have the answers to these questions. But until then…

People say that identity theft is the “perfect crime” Everyone who is anyone can be a victim including children. The best way to prevent yourself from being the prey is learn about the crime. There are millions affected every year.

Once a thief decides to take your place in your life, it’s almost impossible to get that life back. So you have not been a victim of ID theft, then do not take any risk that can harm those chances.

ID theft is the type of crime that one person pretends to be another in sake of getting information, money or any other reasons. This is typically done for financial reasons and or criminal activity.

Information that the thieves look to get are the potential victim’s complete name, their date of birth and any array of related data such as social security number, passport, driver’s license number and credit card number.

Once the thief has any part of the information, he or she can use it to take over the victim’s accounts. He or she can apply for loans and even purchase items and services.

The thief can also apply for medical benefits, education assistance and other personal finances. Just by creating or forging birth certificates or immigration documents, all this can be gotten when presented to the right agency who provides this type of help.

For those who are involved in this kind of crime either want to mislead police on who is committing the fraud or hide from police while they are pursuing the assailant. Some like to use the person’s name to do larger crimes and do human trafficking and terrorism acts.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 29 percent of complaints come from individuals from people aged 18-29, 25 percent for 30-39 individual ages, 21 percent in from individuals in their 40s. 13 percent from the individuals in 50s. The remaining 10 percent come from those ages 60 and older.

Thieves target those who have an average income and those with good credit.

Do not forget that even children can be victims of identity theft especially from their relatives…their parents mainly.

Even businesses, corporations and smell enterprises can be struck by identity theft by thieves disguising themselves as the top executives of the company. They withdrawal large sums of money which can topple business relations and its reputation.

This day and age, ID theft can be committed by gaining access to information systems and duplicating, although not the original, important documents. Afterwards, they can open new credit accounts and charging older ones.

Technological advances have made it possible for hackers to break into public databases and cracking important government sites.

There are seven ways to guard yourself from these thieves though not altogether foolproof.

1. Make sure to never provide your Social Security number unless it is required;

2. Shred important documents;

3. Checks should only have your name and address;

4. Carry only necessary documents needed for the day;

5. Review credit reports regularly. Look for unauthorized accounts;

6. Never give out private data on the phone.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

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Crime like any other business is always constantly changing and evolving to the various nuances of the market and is one of the world’s best industries for relying upon new technology to better facilitate its goals. With the advent of the internet and the sudden massive increase in online banking and the increasing prevalence of financial and retail services being offered via the internet this has meant that criminals have now found a an entirely new captive audience in which to steal from. Identity theft is fast becoming one of the most significant and harmful threats to the online user, and the economic losses it results in both the victim and for the wider economy is staggering.

Identity theft as the name would perhaps first suggest is whereby a criminal illegally obtains a person’s personal details and then uses those details in order to engage in purchases or other retail services. The end stage objectives of identity theft range from petty larceny and fraud, to more worrying crimes such as mass scale money laundering. Because it is the victims details that are being used, the thief need only concern themselves with using the personal details for as long as possible before the authorities and or victim should happen to realize what is going on.

Identity theft is an issue that is especially dangerous via the internet in part due to the ever increasing so and desperate lengths that criminals and fraudsters will go to in order to steal a person’s personal details. One of the most common scams currently being used is so called “phishing” whereby a prospective victim is sent an email which claims to be from either their bank, PayPal or some other form of monetary or credit service.

The structure is typically the same, the victim is sent a rather pointed letter purporting to be from the respective agency concerning some issue with their account and with the email concluding that they should use a link contained within the email to change their password and username. As the unsuspecting victim goes to check the link they are then redirected to a phishing site which is made to resemble the relevant website, and which will actually log the details.

If you do happen to receive a suspicious email and it does contain a link to a webpage/site which you are uncertain about then hover the mouse arrow over the url, this will result in a small box appearing which will clearly display the real url and if the two do not match then it is obvious that the hyperlink has been masked and thus is fraudulent.

Such trickery can easily be avoided, banks as a rule do not email customers about such a sensitive issue over the internet for exactly this reason. If the email happens to be rather pushy or overly demanding, requiring you to change your details within a narrow time frame then there is a very high chance that this is indeed a fraudulent email.

Many email services such as yahoo mail and Hotmail already have very powerful and effective anti-phishing programs present within their services and so this will be typically enough to beat nearly all phishing attempts. Common sense and awareness are paramount to safeguard against you becoming a victim.

Whenever you do need to log onto a site where sensitive details will be used and submitted, make sure you are using a secured site. Secured sites are easily spotted because in the web address bar which contains the url for the relevant site will have https:// as opposed to http. That little s may not seem like much, but rest assured such sites will make use of very powerful encryption technology to dissuade and block dangerous users.

Viruses and more specifically key loggers are also another computer related danger, and a danger which can pose a threat because of their usage as a tool for committing identity theft. Key loggers are programs that will record all of the keys pressed by a user with such data then stored and sent discreetly to the creator who can then check for passwords and other pertinent details. Key loggers are classified as a virus (also known as a Trojan horse) and so any reliable antivirus program will be enough to help protect you from this particular threat.

Key loggers and spyware are most commonly found in porn sites, mp3 sites and peer to peer networks where people file share copyrighted material. If you do use these sites, please make sure that you have adequate protection running in the background so as to safeguard against any such risks. Prevention is better than the cure and with internet security and safety never have truer words been uttered so you may want to refrain from using such potentially dangerous sites.



By: Nicholas Boler

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The number of people falling victim to the identity theft is growing; when thousands of such complains are getting accumulated in the law enforcement department, thousands others are remaining unuttered. In most cases, the damages are done even before the victim realizes it. Once the crook is in possession of your personal information they can commit crimes on your name, can open new bank accounts, apply for new credit cards and can even cheat you for the insurance benefits as well.

As some may label it as the fastest growing form of white-collar crime the actual figure of identity theft victims is not known. The nature of the crime can range from fraudulent use of the credit cards to impersonation. In such cases, the identity theft insurance can ensure your peace of mind and people often don’t mind paying some extra money for protecting themselves form ‘falling a prey’ to it. One can now-a-days purchase the identity theft insurance as a stand-alone plan or can add it as a rider to their homeowners policy as well. But before buying the policy you may wish to know what the insurer actually covers under the identity theft plan.

The coverage offered by the policy:

People often feel that they are actually covered for the entire monetary loss that they have suffered in the scam. But unlikely, the identity theft policy only covers the expenses that the victim incurs during the restoration process of the damages. However, the benefits can vary form policy to policy but you may receive coverages for the following:

•expenses of making phone calls

•mailing expenses (you may require to mail your documents to the authorities in order to repair the damages done to your credit report and other)

•the legal expenses

Hence, if you are planning to buy one, you should ask the agent to explain the coverages offered by the policy. Another factor that you need to look for is the amount of deductible applicable to the plan. Higher the value of the deductible, lower will be your premium, but you may find it unworthy to turn the claim to the insurance company after paying the deductibles yourself.

Protect yourself form the identity-thieves

However, as prevention always scores above the cure, you can actually stay out of trouble by practicing the simple steps mentioned below,

Guard your personal information: never disclose your personal information like-credit card number, bank account details, social security number and so forth to any entity not known to you. Always ask them to identify themselves before handing over any information to them.

Maintain a call log: you can maintain a call log containing the names and the numbers of the persons who have requested you for the information.

Don’t get lured by the promotional offers: this is a very easy way to fall prey to the fraudsters. Never respond to such mails or phone calls. Phishing is another way to acquire information. Therefore, be careful in responding to e-mails requiring you to reveal your personal information.

Ask for the free credit report at intervals: as you may know it already that you can receive a free copy of your credit report form the credit bureaus once in a year, scan through it for the spurious transactions.

Check your monthly credit card and bank statements: this is another way to track the transactions and dealings that you haven’t made. The insurance can buy you the peace of mind but it can’t protect you form becoming a victim of identity theft. Stay aware in order to stay safe.



By: Joyeeta Sinharay

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By now, almost all Americans understand how common the crime of identity theft has become and should also realize that they are prone to becoming a victim of this horrendous crime. While most have probably heard of the many problems that can result from identity theft, many may not truly understand what a criminal does with personal information once they have access to it. Protecting yourself means understanding what a criminal may do once they have your personal information so you can monitor suspicious activity. Once your personal information has been compromised, thieves can commit many crimes including bank or credit card fraud, utilities fraud, governmental documentation fraud, and even criminal fraud. This article will discuss the different ways a thief may use your personal identity information and what methods you can use to protect yourself.

The most popular and most common way of using someones personal information is bank or credit card fraud and this type of fraud can be very detrimental to the victim. A thief may get a new credit card using your name and social security number, many times using an alternate address so you never see any bills. Once the criminal has this credit card they can run up charges until the card is maxed out and never making a payment will put the negative information on your credit history file. The thief can do a similar thing by opening up a bank account in your name. They will write bad checks and secure loans with no intention of paying anything back so this will also end up as a negative mark on your credit history file. Both of these methods may be difficult to catch in the beginning because if the thief is using an alternate address, you will stop receive billing statements from current accounts and never receive a statement on a new account. There are even some more technologically advanced criminals that can, after gaining access to your pin number, clone your ATM card and drain your bank account dry.

Another common activity of identity theft criminals is to commit utilities fraud with your personal information. A thief may open up new phone, electric, gas, or other utility service account using your information. This scheme can extend into accounts for cell phones, cable TV, sewer and water, and some criminals have been known to even rent apartments, all in your name, and like bank fraud, the smart criminals will have all bills and statements sent to a different address so you will not be aware of any suspicious activity until after the damage is already done. This crime be sometimes have less negative impact on the victim because if the criminal is obtaining monthly services using your name, they may very well wish to keep these services active and will actually pay the bills. But if they dont pay or stop paying later on, then it again goes against your credit history and can affect your ability to obtain and maintain these necessary services.

A more serious type of identity theft activity is government documentation fraud where a criminal can use your personal information for many different purposes. They may get a drivers license or state ID with your information and their picture. One common practice of identity theft is the usage of someone elses Social Security number for employment purposes. While this practice does happen with people who are on the run from the law or wish to stay hidden for some other reason, it is more likely that an illegal immigrant without a Social Security number of their own will commit this crime. The Social Security administration is not well equipped to detect this type of problem and it may go on for years unless the IRS notices some abnormality at tax time. Another problem that often arises is when the person using your Social Security number files for unemployment. There was a case several years ago at a small company where an employee, unknown to the employer, was an illegal immigrant and was using somebody elses Social Security number. This employee was put on a two week temporary layoff and filed for unemployment with the false Social Security number that they had been using for years. By a matter of chance, the legal owner of the Social Security number filed for unemployment benefits the very same week which created a red flag for the Social Security administration department.

Possibly the most frightening type of fraud is where a person who has access to your person identity information gets arrested for some reason and supplies the authorities with your information. If they do immediate jail time, the worst that will happen is that you will develop a criminal history but if they are required to return for a court trial at a later date, you may encounter some real problems. The fact that they are already a criminal who has stolen your identity means that they are unlikely to bother showing up for their court appointment and a warrant will be issued in your name. Something as simple as a traffic violation can land you in jail, wondering just what is going on.

After learning what an identity theft criminal can do with your information, you should now realize that it is important to take necessary steps to protect yourself. Instead of taking the chance of becoming a victim, you would be much better off to take some proactive steps to eliminate or reduce your risk of identity theft.



By: Rick Churchill

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Internet security is very important nowadays. Considering the rapid rise in identity theft crimes. One must wonder How to protect themselves from becoming one of the millions of victims affected by this personal security dilemma. In the last 5 years alone the rise in identity theft crimes has escalated at a staggering rate. Not to mention this problem is still on a steady rise. Identity fraud is a faceless crime, attacking all ages, all races, all genders. All it takes is seconds for identity criminals to get a hold, of your most guarded personal information.

Then your at the mercy of this faceless crime which is merciless. Identity theft is a devastating crime. The Federal Trade Commission receives hundreds of thousand complaints every year with new fraud cases being open everyday. With this being the information age, the wrongful use of information is what identity thieves thrive off. So personal information security should be primary as we use the web along with our daily activities.

Statistics state identity theft takes place every 79 seconds, leaving unsuspecting individuals with there bank accounts hijacked, credit misused, or there good name used to commit criminal acts. Prevention, detection and protection are some of the steps that need to be taken, along with education. The internet consumer needs to know how this crime can effect there personal life. Also how they can prevent, detect and protect themselves, and the internet is the perfect place for that.

So don’t keep yourself at risk learn how you can guard your identity from fraud at. stopidcrimes.com



By: Elias Mitchell

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