Category: identity theft
Identity theft occurs when the thief steals your personal information to do one or more of the following:-
* Take over your credit accounts/credit cards.
* Open new credit accounts/credit cards.
* Take out a loan in your name.
* Rent a flat/apartment in your name.
* Access your bank accounts.
They may also commit other crimes in your name and at your expense.
When identity theft strikes the effects can be devastating and because it often involves no physical theft it may not be noticed by its victims until significant financial loss has already occurred.
The ways in which your identity can be stolen are:
• It is estimated that about 750,000 Americans have their identities stolen every year.
• In the past 5 years, there have been 30 million identity thefts.
• 38-48% of identity theft victims discover what has happened within the first 3 months.
• Another 9-18% take 4 years or longer to find it.
The Better Business Bureau has a long history of helping cities, communities and consumers. They have earned the public's trust and that is just one of the many reasons why the Better Business Bureau is considered attractive bait for spear phishing scams.
The problem with identity theft is that once your identity has been stolen, it is stolen for the rest of your life and then some. Just because you die doesn't mean your identity does and this can cause problems for your family once you are gone. Gone but not forgotten is a term that definitely applies to identity theft.
Identity theft protection services can help with this problem.
Identity theft. We've all heard of it, but do we really understand how serious and prevalent it actually is? Believe it or not, identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the US, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. As a matter of fact, almost $50 billion dollars was stolen via identity theft in 2006 alone.
