Identity Theft: A Crime that Can Affect Anyone

There is a crime that has become so prevalent that anyone is vulnerable without the proper precautions. Some have become more familiar with this crime than they ever feared. This crime can devastate your life and cause untold stress. The first step in protecting yourself from identity theft is learning the basics of it. There are three main types of identity theft that affect consumers and one that primarily targets businesses.

Financial identity theft is what people generally think of when they hear the phrase identity theft. It is when the thief uses your identity for unlawful monetary gains. Once they have your personal information they will use it to make financial transactions in your name. Some examples of this would be getting a credit card, a loan from a bank, or writing a check in your name. For many people they don't even know this is going on until they start getting collection calls for unpaid bills in their name.

Some will try to steal an identity to escape their pasts. They may wish to have their mistakes erased, like poor financial decisions or a criminal record. Their solution is to steal your identity and pretend to be you. They'll take your information and then basically just try to live your life. They will apply for jobs in your name, bank in your name, and do pretty much everything else by your name. While not all of these particular thieves have a malicious intent it can for obvious reasons still cause major problems when you have someone using your name for everything that they do.

Another type of identity theft is commonly called criminal identity theft. This occurs when someone gives a law enforcement official another person's information. This information could include but isn't limited to the victim's name, address, social security number, or driver's license number. It isn't uncommon for them to even have a form of ID with this false information on it. The consequences for the victim of this are getting convictions on their record that they weren't responsible for. This could range from a speeding ticket or DUI to felonies.

There are some cases where the victim isn't an individual but an entire business. This can actually take on two facets. A person can pretend to be a representative of a company and make purchases on their behalf. The company often isn't informed until the bills start rolling in. The other side is that the criminal can pretend to be from a company and use them as a front to get consumer's personal information. This is known as phishing. A good example of phishing is the fraudulent emails that say they need you to update your information, asking for your social security number and other information.

With changing technologies and new advances in identity theft prevention the specifics of each crime may vary from case to case. The most important thing is an understanding of how identity thieves operate. This is essential in safeguarding yourself and your assets from these crimes. I encourage everyone to further their knowledge of identity crimes so that they can take the proper steps and be rest assured that their identity will remain where it belongs, with you.