Identity Theft is a growing problem that is a shared concern that everyone must become aware of. Having one’s identity stolen is now as easy as making a purchase at your local grocery store and paying with a credit card or throwing a bill in the trash. That is all it takes to become the victim of identity theft. In the next few paragraphs I am going to discuss some of the ways that a person can become the victim of an identity theft scam.
The first way that a person can become the victim of identity theft is to have your information stolen by someone that you do business with. The reality is that many times in the process of doing business we have to give out key bits of personal information that can easily be used to steal a person identity. Because much of the business that we do is now computerized it is not hard for someone to obtain personal information by hacking into a business computer. There are also unscrupulous people who sell identity information as well. Credit card information, bank account information, name, address, phone number, date of birth, and your social security number are now valuable assets to a person who is involved in identity theft.
A second way a person can become the victim of identity theft is to have someone steal credit offers or other personal information contained in documents that are thrown in the trash. The person desiring to steal your identity can respond to offers that have been made to you in solicitation mail or by using the personal information contained in documents that have been thrown in the trash.
A third way to become the victim of identity theft is to get caught up in a phishing scam on the Internet. There are all sorts of Internet email scams that are attempting to lure unsuspecting people into revealing personal information that can be used for the purpose of stealing your identity. The most common are emails asking you to verify personal information in order to maintain access to bank websites, financial accounts that you have Internet access to, or to websites that contain your personal information. They may ask for personal information such as birth date, social security numbers, or they may ask for sign-on and password information. The purpose of these emails is to get access to information maintained online.
Becoming the victim of identity theft is not a very difficult all it takes is for someone to obtain your personal information from someone that you do business with, from documents thrown in the trash, or through an Internet scam.
Originally posted 2009-11-05 08:28:12.
