Identity theft is when identity thieves steal personal or business information from victims. This information could include bank accounts, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and PIN numbers. This information is used for taking money, gaining credit, gaining access to countries illegally, and committing crime in other people’s names so you do not get traced back to it. It can be done via phishing and viruses online, and by actually stealing wallets, dumpster diving, skimming credit cards at ATM machines, changing the victim’s address to divert billing statements, and pretexting, where they use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.
Identity theft is a growing problem worldwide. It is the fastest growing crime in the United States and the United Kingdom and has surpassed drug trafficking as the number one crime (ftc.gov). Most people do not take the proper precautions to protect themselves from identity theft. We are trying to inform and educate themselves about the ways to do so.
Recovering from identity theft can take hundreds of dollars and many days or years repairing damage to one’s good name and credit record. Some consumers victimized by identity theft may lose out on job opportunities, or be denied loans for education, housing, or cars because of negative information on their credit reports. In rare cases, they may even be arrested for crimes they did not commit.
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