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Tips For Identity Theft Protection
Unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock lately, chances are great that you have heard about the crime of identity theft. This is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century and it continues to increase every year. The Federal Trade Commission consumer reports indicates that identity theft accounts for more than 40% of all the FTC complaints filed each year.
Unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock lately, chances are great that you have heard about the crime of identity theft. This is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century and it continues to increase every year. The Federal Trade Commission consumer reports indicates that identity theft accounts for more than 40% of all the FTC complaints filed each year.
But even more than the number of reported cases is the financial loss associated with this crime. For the sum total of both business and consumer identity theft, the financial loss is estimated to be greater than $50 billion per year, which makes it one of the most expensive crimes on the record books.
Despite the increasing popularity of purchasing online, the Internet is not used nearly as much as many people think for this crime, like the act of using your credit card to make an online purchase. On the other hand, records also show that almost 72% of reported cases are classified as an “inside job”, meaning in the case of a business that the thief is actually an employee of that business.
Another surprising fact is that in almost 27% of reported cases of ID theft, the victim of the theft either knew the thief or were related to them in some way. Keep in mind that these are actual reported cases of identity theft, as opposed to a misunderstanding amongst relatives or family members, or in other words, was done in a malicious manner.
The foremost rule for identity theft protection is that you must be very careful who you share your personal information with. How well do you really know the person that you are sharing your data with? What do they need it for? In almost all cases, there is not a need to provide as much information as most people freely give out.
The key to your personal information is your social security number, and you should never carry your social security card in your purse or wallet in case it gets stolen. There are very few occasions when you need to have that information available if you don’t have your number memorized, so do not carry your card with you.
If you spend any amount of time online at all, you have probably seen the spam emails that are allegedly from your bank or credit union, asking you to click a link to verify your personal information. Never ever click the link in those emails. Although the email may look official, complete with your bank’s graphic logo, any 12 year old these days can create such an email, and if you give out your personal information at the site you are taken to, you have become a victim. A real bank or financial institution would never ask you to verify that information online. If in doubt, call your bank and ask what kind of information they need you to verify, where you will almost always find that they have NOT had a security breach and do not need you to verify anything.
There are a variety of additional things you should implement to protect yourself from identity theft, and the key to it is to NOT provide your personal information to people who do not have a right to it or do not need it. Safeguard your information and avoid become an identity theft statistic.