Identity theft is a serious crime. Over the decades there have been several Identity fraud cases in the US like the case of Michelle Brown, a woman who had her identity stolen for over 1 ½ years. The person impersonating her got over $50,000 of goods and services in her name without her knowing it. The criminal bought a truck, a driver’s license, rented an apartment and smuggled around 3,000 pounds of marijuana, all in her name.
Since she had no protection against the crime, she was unaware of all this for a long time until she was dragged to the Chicago Federal Court and arrested. Though the criminal was captured later, she got an instant prison record and was labeled for being involved in drug trafficking. The criminal practically damaged her credit standing.
Although identity fraud is not new, but with time and the latest technological advancements, it has increased explosively. Criminals have found stealthy ways to manipulate advanced technologies to acquire personal information and social security numbers of random people and misuse it in their best interest.
The Scope of ID Related Thefts
It’s important to understand that today the scope of ID crime has increased greatly. In addition to credit card number thefts, other cases of ID theft include financial fraud, medical ID stealing, benefits fraud, employment fraud, social security fraud, child and elderly identity misuse, family fraud, tax fraud, medical ID theft, the list is endless.
Alarming Statistics by Consumer Sentinel Network
According to the statistics for the calendar year 2012 presented by the Consumer Sentinel Network, a reliable law enforcement source that accounts for consumer complaints, the highest number of complaints received were of frauds related to stolen identities with 18% of the overall complaint categories.
Furthermore, the statistics also depicted that benefit fraud (46%) was the most commonly reported theft followed by credit card crime (13%) and phone and bank fraud respectively. Also, another important thing to note here is that 38% became victims of ID related crimes through email activities and 34% through telephone. This depicts that internet is being wrongfully used to break-in to your personal data and commit fraud.
What Are You Doing For Identity Theft Protection?
If you thought cyber security and credit monitoring services would keep you from falling prey to the criminals who are masters at this kind of larceny, then you got that wrong.
Today ID criminals know dexterous ways to break in your security code and get access to your confidential data. And if you are relying on the credit monitoring services, then you should know that these service providers don’t offer you protection against identity theft, they only inform you when you become a victim of the crime which is too late to take effective measures to protect yourself.
The protection against identity theft has become necessary. You never know who might be impersonating you and going on a shopping spree using your credit card number online without being informed.
The best way for identity theft protection today is to subscribe to the services of a reliable and renowned identity theft protection company. ID crime protection companies don’t inform you that you are now a victim, in fact they prevent you from falling prey.
Take action now, before it’s too late!
